http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September, 22,
2012-Zimbabwean authorities are pressing ahead with a
bid to punish five
prosecutors who led a crippling work boycott over poor
remuneration and
working conditions last year.
Law officers and prosecutors staged wild cat
strikes last year demanding a
review of their salaries and conditions of
service. The prosecutors staged
demonstrations outside Attorney General
Johannes Tomana’s office and at
magistrates courts dotted around the
country. The strike action was
triggered by a government decision to award
salary increases to regional
magistrates and chief law officers in Tomana’s
office while excluding the
prosecutors who numbered about 200.
In an
attempt to punish the leaders of the job action, Tomana, who was left
embarrassed by the incident after failing to reign in his subordinates first
charged five leaders of the prosecutors’ labour representative body, the
Zimbabwe Law Officers Association (ZILOA) with defiance, misconduct and
inciting other workers to stage a work boycott that lasted for two
weeks.
He later served the ZILOA leaders Dereck Charamba, Leopold Mudisi,
Patrobs
Dube, Mehluli Tshuma and Musekiwa Mbanje with letters withdrawing
his
authority approving the prosecutors as his prosecutorial
agents.
Last week, the ZILOA leaders were summoned to attend a
disciplinary hearing
to be convened early next month in Gweru to answer
charges of misconduct.
The disciplinary committee will be chaired by
Virginia Mabiza, the Secretary
in the Ministry of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs.
Prosecutors are among the country’s poorly paid
public servants who in
recent years have resorted to work boycotts to demand
salary hikes and who
wrestle for public transport with some of the suspects
and criminals they
would have prosecuted in courts.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
21/09/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
DOZENS of MDC supporters on Friday came under attack from a
group of men in
army uniform minutes after party leader Welshman Ncube
addressed a rally in
Mutoko, Mashonaland East, officials said.
Ncube
and senior party leaders had just left the venue of the rally in
Mutoko
centre when dispersing supporters came under attack, according to a
spokesman for the party, Kuraone Chihwayi.
He said several supporters
were injured in the raid while six party
activists had gone into
hiding.
The party says the assailants were disgorged by two army trucks.
Mutoko is
headquarters to the 2.1 Infantry Battalion.
Chihwayi said: “I
can confirm that violence erupted at the rally venue soon
after the
president had left when people who were in army trucks and dressed
in army
uniform started beating up our supporters.
“As I speak, our provincial
chairperson, Shupikai Mandaza, and five other
party leaders in the province
are in hiding. Mandaza is actually a liaison
officer for JOMIC [Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee – a body
tasked with monitoring
implementation of a power sharing agreement].”
Chihwayi said despite
President Robert Mugabe’s public calls for a cessation
of violence, Friday’s
attack was evidence that “we are far from building
bridges”.
“The MDC
will hold Mugabe accountable for the missing party supporters. We
are going
to press on until Mugabe is gone,” he added.
Ncube, who returned to
Harare in the evening, confirmed receiving a report
on the violence.
“I
am informed that our party supporters were beaten up soon after my team
had
left. During the rally, these army trucks were moving up and down. After
the
rally, the trucks dropped off the soldiers who then started assaulting
our
supporters leaving one young man seriously injured,” Ncube said by
telephone.
“We are still in the process of verifying what exactly
went on and we have
notified the police about the incident.”
New
Zimbabwe.com was unable to verify if the assailants were soldiers.
Zimbabwe
National Army spokesman Col Alfios Makotore was not answering his
mobile
phone late Friday.
Ncube added: “This incident exposes the sad reality
that the country has not
moved on from the 2008 election violence. It
clearly demonstrates that some
areas are still no go areas for other
political parties.”
Both MDC factions accuse coalition partner Zanu
PF of employing soldiers for
partisan political programmes.
The military
was fingered as a key driver of the violence that swept
Zimbabwe in 2008
ahead of a presidential run-off election which was
boycotted by MDC-T leader
Morgan Tsvangirai. President Mugabe won the
discredited vote by a landslide
but regional countries pressured him into
sharing power with his rivals.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Saturday, 22 September 2012 15:20
HARARE - The US
embassy in Harare has denied ZBC News chief correspondent
Reuben Barwe a
visa to travel to the 67th session of the United Nations (UN)
General
Assembly currently underway at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Zimbabwe
has reacted angrily to the invocation of the travel ban against
Barwe and
accused the United States of abusing its position as the host of
the UN by
denying a visa to the ZBC ace.
Barwe was scheduled to travel with
President Robert Mugabe who left Harare
Wednesday night for New
York.
The US traditionally waivers travel bans to allow leaders on the US
embargo
such as Mugabe to travel for the world body meeting.
Barwe
was denied a visa because he is on the US sanctions list.
Foreign Affairs
minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has protested to the UN
Committee on
Relations with the Host Country saying US authorities were
misusing the
country’s status as the seat of the UN headquarters as
“political leverage
to advance your political agenda against Zimbabwe.”
He said it was
“nothing short of calculated political intimidation and
pressure” which he
said “impairs the very foundations of multilateral
diplomacy.”
Mumbengegwi cited the UN Charter, which says all member
states and their
delegations are supposed to have access without hindrances
to the
headquarters of any UN organ.
The US embassy in Harare had not
responded to Daily News questions seeking
comment on Barwe’s visa denial at
the time of going to print.
It is the second time Barwe has been barred
from the US, after the 2010
debacle in which he was again denied a visa
together with Central
Intelligence Organisation director-general Happyton
Bonyongwe.
As the host of UN headquarters, the United States has pledged
to issue entry
visas to officials from UN member states, though it can and
does deny entry
permits to foreign officials for many reasons, such as
failure to meet
deadlines or provide proper documentation, or if espionage
is suspected.
The US has imposed “narrowly targeted sanctions” on
specific high level
individuals and their families in Zimbabwe, accused of
undermining democracy
and crushing the Zimbabwean people’s civil
liberties.
Over 200 individuals, including Mugabe, have their assets
frozen in
America. - Gift Phiri
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 22 September 2012 14:54
HARARE - President
Robert Mugabe Mugabe is delaying swearing-in Morgan
Komichi, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s pick for deputy minister of
Transport and Infrastructure
Development, a development which could raise
tensions in the coalition
government.
Tsvangirai has chosen Komichi, the MDC deputy chairperson, to
fill the
vacancy created following the death of Tichaona Mudzingwa in April
early
this year.
Mudzingwa passed on at the Avenues Clinic in Harare
from cancer.
Mudzingwa had served as MDC senator and deputy minister
since his
appointment in 2009 by Tsvangirai. He died aged 69.
The
Daily News has seen a copy of Tsvangirai’s letter to Mugabe where he
proposes that Komichi fills the post left vacant by Mudzingwa, an
ex-Zimbabwe National Army colonel who served from 1980 to 1994.
Only
Mugabe, as the head of state, has powers to swear-in government
ministers.
The letter, dated June 13, 2012, recommends that the
non-constituency
senator be appointed deputy minister. But four months on,
Mugabe is still to
swear him in.
Efforts to get a comment from the
President’s spokesperson George Charamba
were fruitless as he was said to
have accompanied Mugabe to the UN General
Assembly in New York.
But
Tsvangirai’s letter to Mugabe says: “The passing away of Hon Dr Tichaona
Mudzingwa, MP deputy minister of Transport and Infrastructure has left a
vacancy in that ministry which must be filled.
I therefore recommend
for appointment to the post of deputy minister and
Transport and
Infrastructure Development Hon, Morgan Komichi, Senator in the
upper house
of the Parliament of Zimbabwe and a member of my political
party. I wait to
hear from you on the above which we can discuss at our next
meeting.”
Highly-placed government sources said Mugabe and Tsvangirai
discussed the
matter and both agreed that Komichi be appointed as deputy
minister.
However, Mugabe, who has previously refused to swear-in the MDC
treasurer-general Roy Bennett as deputy minister of Agriculture, has been
sitting on the letter.
There are mounting fears that Mugabe will
again block Komichi’s appointment.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson Luke
Tamborinyoka confirmed to the Daily
News that Tsvangirai had indeed picked
Komichi as deputy minister.
“I am aware that a letter was written some
time ago by the Prime Minister
recommending the appointment of Senator
Komichi. I however, do not know
reasons for the delay,” said
Tamborinyoka.
While Mugabe has been dragging his feet on appointing MDC
ministers, he has
been swift to appoint ministers from his own Zanu PF
party.
In March this year, Mugabe swore-in one of his most vocal
supporters Monica
Mutsvangwa to fill the post of deputy minister of Labour
and Social Welfare
position following the expulsion of Tracy Mutinhiri from
Zanu PF.
Analysts said the delay could escalate tensions within the
fragile
power-sharing government set up by Tsvangirai and bitter rival
Mugabe in
2009.
The power game in Zimbabwe goes beyond the
appointment of ministers as the
two Principals are also wrangling over the
adoption of the parliamentary
authored draft constitution and other
political reforms.
Both Zanu PF and the MDC agree that government was now
dysfunctional with
party interests taking precedence over national issues,
but the MDC says the
parties must implement all outstanding issues from the
power-sharing pact
and implement an election roadmap outlined by regional
bloc Sadc.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Saturday, 22 September 2012
15:00
HARARE - International rights group Amnesty International urged the
Zimbabwe
police yesterday to act with restraint and ensure members of the
public are
not placed at risk as they conduct a crackdown on groups of
people suspected
to have been involved in recent outbreaks of violence in
Harare.
On Wednesday the police arrested 308 people following clashes
between
soldiers and touts controlling minibus stations.
Amnesty
International believes that given the randomness of the police
operation the
detainees may include innocent members of the public and are
at a high risk
of being tortured.
Eyewitnesses reported that members of the public had
been beaten and caught
in the police swoop.
Regular police, supported
by anti-riot and military police were seen beating
suspected touts in
Harare.
“The Zimbabwe police’s attempt to restore law and order has
resulted in
further chaos and placed members of the public at immediate
risk. They are
roaming the streets carrying out random beatings and
whippings which is
absolutely unacceptable,” said Noel Kututwa, southern
Africa director for
Amnesty International.
“The government must act
immediately to bring the police under control. The
308 people already
detained must be brought before a court immediately.
Innocent members of the
public also arrested during the police action must
be released immediately
and unconditionally.”
The minibus touts, known as mandimbandimba, are
suspected to be linked to
the notorious Chipangano gang and control most of
the public bus ranks in
Harare extorting money from minibus
drivers.
Chipangano has over the years used violence to wrestle control
of many small
businesses and market stalls across the capital.
The
gang is affiliated to President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party and as a result
has
enjoyed relative impunity despite being accused of violence against
members
of the public.
Clashes between the touts and the military began last week
when two soldiers
were beaten by minibus touts.
This prompted revenge
attacks by a group of about 20 soldiers early this
week.
“These
events in Harare are just a tip of the iceberg. Gangs linked to
President
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party have been enjoying total impunity for human
rights
abuses against their political opponents and members of the public,”
Kututwa
said.
“The culture of impunity that permeates Zimbabwe’s security forces
needs to
be urgently addressed.
“In the run up to the constitutional
referendum and elections when tensions
are high, it is imperative that
Zimbabwe is policed by a body that upholds
the highest standards of
impartiality.”
Amnesty International called on the police and army
authorities to act
immediately against the deep-rooted culture of impunity
by members of the
security forces and to investigate incidences of collusion
between them and
criminal gangs.
There have been consistent reports
of human rights violations by security
forces against perceived political
opponents and members of the public.
Similarly the police have been
accused of handing criminals over to
Chipangano gang members who have
subjected them to torture before they were
taken back into custody and
charged.
The Chipangano gang appears to have grown out of control with
its leaders
using their growing influence to enrich themselves through rent
seeking
activities mainly in the township of Mbare.
In recent weeks
Zanu PF leaders, including the party’s secretary for
administration, Didymus
Mutasa have attempted to distance the party from the
gang and to reign in
its activities.
In recent weeks one of the group leaders was questioned
by police and
released following an incident where municipal police
demolishing illegal
car sales businesses were fired at.
http://www.zimdiaspora.com
SATURDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2012
10:43
By Correspondent
A TOP Zimbabwean politician shocked
education officials in Bulawayo during a
graduation ceremony when he told
them not to speak in English language.
The deputy Minister of Higher and
Tertiary Education Lutho Tapela told
officials at the United College of
Education teachers’ graduation ceremony
that they were wrong to conduct the
occasion in English language, saying
they should use vernacular as everyone
at the function understood local
languages.
However, apart from being
an official language, English language integrates
all Zimbabweans of
different tribes and the country is a well-known English
speaking nation.
Commentators reacted and said Tapela's statement amounted
to telling
Zimbabweans to stop using English language as an official
language.
Tapela was the guest of honour at the ceremony where 238
graduands were
capped after finishing courses in various
disciplines.
“The principal has addressed you in English, the director of
ceremony, it’s
the same and the representative of the University of
Zimbabwe, Pro
Vice-Chancellor, did the same,” he said. “But when I look
here, there is
no-one white. Why then do we speak in English? It shows you
are still
mentally colonised.”
Tapela said people should address in
“our vernacular, if . . . there is no
one from other races who does not
understand our languages.”
“This happens when people are used to have
things done for them,” he said.
“We should use our local languages if we are
addressing our own people.”
However, Tapela later turned to his prepared
speech which was written in
English and applauded government for promoting
education but said it was
time to rebrand.
“There is need to redefine
our educational brand in line with the
ever-changing education dynamics,” he
said.
“There is need to redefine who we are, redefining is a vital step
for
realigning ourselves to be proactive and generating new
ideas.”
Tapela said government had done enough in promoting information
and
communication technologies (ICT) and drew laughter from the audience
when he
revealed that he got into the government without computer
knowledge.
“If this was being said by another person, I was going to be
angry,” he
said.
“I didn’t even ask my secretary to teach me because
I feared she would tell
people that I was computer illiterate. Whenever she
came into my office, I
pretended to be busy on the computer yet I was
blank.
“It was only when the ministry of Finance revealed that our
ministers are
computer illiterate that I ran to Cape Town where my grandson
is doing Grade
Seven. He had to teach me day and night.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Richard Chidza, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 22 September 2012 15:14
HARARE - Police
commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri is seemingly washing
his hands off a
case in which a 13-year-old girl who claims she was raped by
Munyaradzi
Kereke, former advisor to Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, is
demanding
justice.
In his opposing affidavit to a High Court challenge filed by the
girl’s
lawyer Charles Warara of Warara and Associates seeking a High Court
order to
bring Kereke before the courts ostensibly because police were not
interested
in prosecuting him, Chihuri claims a warned and cautioned
statement was
recorded from the accused.
“I further submit that it is
denied that the suspect was not called to the
police station, as a warned
and cautioned statement was recorded from the
suspect (Kereke) and is part
of the docket,” the police chief submitted.
Warara claims in his court
papers that police referred him to the Attorney
General Johannes Tomana,
even before they had recorded a statement from
Kereke.
“It is denied
that the letter of the applicant’s legal practitioners had any
effect in the
reference of the docket by the officer-in-charge Borrowdale
(Police) to the
2nd respondent (Tomana)’s office,” Chihuri’s papers say. “It
is common
practice that all serious cases the police put forward the docket
to the AG
for directions before bringing the matter to court so that when
the matter
is brought before a court it is ready for trial.”
In a February 21, 2012
letter to Warara, the officer-in-charge of Borrowdale
police wrote: “The
matter was investigated and the matter is with the AG’s
office.
This
was prompted by your correspondence copied to the AG and the station
hence
they had to have sight of the docket.” The letter clearly states that
the
docket was forwarded to Tomana after receipt of Warara’s letter.
Tomana,
who is also a respondent in the High Court case, said in his
opposing
affidavit there was insufficient evidence against Kereke. The girl’s
lawyer
claims she has a comprehensive medical evidence that the girl was
sexually
violated.
“The accused was facing one count of indecent assault as
defined in Section
67 of the Criminal Law (Codification and reform) Act
(Chapter 9:23) and one
count of rape as defined in Section 65 of the same
code. A 9-page warned and
cautioned statement recorded from the accused
person on the 10th of November
2010 was also part of the docket,” Tomana’s
papers say.
“Upon perusal of the docket and assessing the evidence it was
the 2nd
respondent’s (AG) considered view that prosecution be declined for
want of
consistent, coherent and incriminating evidence. An entry to that
effect was
entered on the police running diary on the 22nd of September
2011.”
Warara is fighting to have Kereke brought before the court to
stand trial on
allegations of rape.
An affidavit by the “raped”
girl’s maternal grandfather claims senior police
officials admitted that
they are failing to arrest Kereke because he is
“powerful and well
connected.”
The girl, through her lawyer, petitioned police chief Chihuri
protesting
that two years after the rape, she had hoped for justice even
while holding
out the possibility that committing Kereke for trial was the
only way to
restore her honour.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff
Writer
Saturday, 22 September 2012 15:04
HARARE - A year after Nyanga MDC
activists including national spokesperson
Douglas Mwonzora were held
incommunicado in police custody and tortured, a
Supreme Court review into
whether their rights were violated during the
detention opened at the
Supreme Court on Thursday.
Mwonzora, who is MP for Nyanga North, was
present in the court in a case in
which he and 32 other activists want the
Supreme Court to declare their
ill-treatment in custody including being
denied access to food and lawyers a
flagrant violation of their
constitutional rights.
The MDC activists’ claim they were viciously
assaulted by police before the
tables turned and they were charged with
assault.
Headman Rwisai Nyakauru later died reportedly from wounds
sustained during
the torture.
Nyakauru, who was 82, was arrested on
February 14 last year at the Taziwa
Hotel.
He was viciously assaulted
in one of the rooms before he was taken into
police
custody.
Narrating his custody ordeal along with the late headman,
Mwonzora said they
were shackled and denied medication by authorities in
violation of their
constitutional rights.
They also spent three weeks
behind bars after the State kept invoking
Section 121 of the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA).
Nyanga magistrate Ignatio Mhene
granted an application filed by the defence
lawyers seeking to refer the
matter to the Supreme Court for a determination
on possible violation of
their rights during their arrest and period of
detention.
On
Thursday, the much awaited case got off to a stuttering start as the
Supreme
Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, determined that lawyers
representing the 33 MDC activists had not furnished the court with adequate
details to warrant the court to proceed.
Deputy Chief Justice Luke
Malaba granted the defence’s application to
postpone the trial to a later
date in order to assemble the necessary
documents.
Malaba said the
matter had been postponed to allow the counsel to provide
affidavits that
detail the alleged torture “before proceeding with the main
case”.
Malaba had earlier on rapped the defence counsel for doing a
“shoddy” job in
failing to adequately prepare necessary documents that would
enable the
court to make a reasonable judgement.
“As we seat as a
court we don’t know what happened. We don’t know about the
violence. The
charges are not here and we don’t even know what happened,”
said
Malaba.
Malaba said judges are not omniscient and therefore require
lawyers to
provide details to enable them to make an informed
decision.
It has taken more than a year for the villagers to have their
day in court.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyer Jeremiah
Bamu, who is
representing the 33, wants the Supreme Court’s full bench to
determine
whether or not the assaults, torture and denial of medical
attention to
their clients constitute inhuman and degrading treatment in
violation of
Section 15 (1) of the Constitution.
Bamu wants the
Supreme Court to determine whether or not the raising of
Section 121 of the
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) (Chapter 9:07)
against their
clients denied them their protection by the law and infringed
on their right
to liberty in a manner that is not reasonably justified in a
democratic
society.
Further, he wants the court to determine whether or not in
raising Section
121 (3) of the CPEA, the State acted in bad faith and
thereby contravening
Section 18 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) joins Zimbabweans and the rest of
the world
in commemorating the International Day of Peace on 21 September
2012.
22.09.12
01:07pm
by ZLHR
This significant
day on the human rights calendar affords us an opportunity
to reflect and
recommit to the sincere undertaking by the United Nations and
the global
peoples to promote and safeguard peace throughout the world.
The
International Day of Peace, whose theme is “Sustainable Peace for a
Sustainable Future” is devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both
within and among all nations and peoples.
The world has witnessed
decades of numerous human rights challenges
resulting from a diverse range
of factors including colonisation, racism,
oppression, war, poverty,
disease, corruption and autocratic governance. It
is against this background
that instruments that enforce values such as
peace, freedom, justice,
equality, development and human dignity around the
world need to be
implemented and respected.
As a nascent democracy, Zimbabwe initially
made some strides towards
upholding peace and fostering a culture of respect
for human rights,
particularly in relation to social rights such as
education and health.
However it is tragic and regrettable that State and
non-State actors
continue to work indefatigably to deny their citizens peace
and fundamental
rights which were at the core of the struggle for
liberation.
Despite recently marking the 4th anniversary of the signing
of the
Inter-party Political Agreement (IPA) by the three political parties
to the
Inclusive Government (IG), Zimbabwe still carries the dictatorial
hallmarks
of erosion of personal liberties, repression, torture,
surveillance, an
oppressive legal framework and abuse of the criminal
justice system to
harass, intimidate and persecute Human Rights Defenders
(HRDs) and ordinary
citizens caught in the crossfire.
Whilst attempts
are being made to move the country forward in terms of
legislative and
institutional reform necessary to free the operating
environment agreed
under the IPA, State security agents and other non-State
actors aligned to
repressive elements of the old order continue to
intentionally disrupt
community-led peace building initiatives.
Arbitrary arrests, baseless
prosecutions and persecution, abuse of insult
laws continue to occur. At an
alarming rate, the country is witnessing
impunity by State actors,
especially the police, who engage in the
antiquated practice of outsourcing
torture through handing over suspects
arrested on political reasons to
Chipangano, a shadowy ZANU PF terror group.
Unwarranted harassment of
lawyers, who would be carrying out their
professional duties still continues
while women HRDs, particularly members
of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise,
continue to be targets of arrests and
persecution by the police for simply
electing to exercise their democratic
right to freedom of assembly and
expression.
In recent months, the police have abused their positions of
authority and
engaged in unlawful activities of harassing and arresting
women in social
clubs and women walking in the streets after hours. Such
despicable and
pre-historic approaches to law enforcement done under the
guise of law
enforcement are disgraceful and unbecoming and should not be
condoned by any
well-meaning law enforcement agency.
Of concern to
ZLHR too, are the sustained attacks, harassment and
persecution of members
of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe based on sexual
orientation that, in
itself, is a monumental tragedy and also a violation of
international human
rights law.
The process of national healing remains elusive and the Organ
on National
Healing and Reconciliation has been neither victim-centred, nor
victim-owned. It has failed to have any impact or effect and will not be
able to deliver as long as there are two centres of power - one that wishes
to bury the past’s excesses, and another that wishes to bring them into the
open and address them in a meaningful manner.
Although political
party leaders have on several occasions denounced
violence, it is sad to
note that these have only remained hollow and mere
rhetorical
statements.
All these transgressions are the hallmarks of the coalition
government’s
tragic failure to fulfill the commitments laden in the letter
and spirit of
the IPA, an agreement which was steeped in a shared commitment
to re-orient
our attitudes towards respect for the Constitution, national
laws, the rule
of law as well as to build a society free of violence, fear,
intimidation
and hatred.
ZLHR reminds the coalition government and
both State and non-State actors
that violence, harassment and persecution
rob people of the opportunity to
develop, safeguard the environment, create
jobs, fight poverty and advance
social equity and ultimately peace and
development.
For ZLHR, the trickery of endless political dialogue by some
uncommitted
hardhearted political players to stall the urgent imperative for
a peaceful
and acceptable election in which the free will of the people is
expressed
and respected can no longer be tolerated.
Instead, the IPA
must now immediately be used as a tool to facilitate an
environment and
institutions that will ensure a genuine, peaceful free and
fair election in
line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines for Democratic
Elections and
the AU Declaration on Principles Governing Democratic
Elections and allow
for the credible return to electoral legitimacy which
places effective
popular participation at the centre of our choice of
leaders. All political
parties involved in the IPA must heed this, and take
urgent action to move
towards such necessary conditions if they are truly
people centred and
committed to a peaceful Zimbabwe.
Dear Family and Friends,
In the eerie glow thrown by a thin orange crescent
of the setting
moon, sausage flies and flying ants filled the evening sky
this week.
The orange moon sinking into a dark, dusty horizon along with
the
sudden reappearance of gossamer-winged insects is a sure sign
that
summer has arrived. Clouds are starting to build up, Jacarandas
are
turning purple and wherever there’s a mulberry tree the ground
is
carpeted in fallen fruits and purple bird droppings. First thing in
the
morning you can track the flight path of the fruit bats, the
purple splats
spread far and wide from the bountiful fruit trees.
Irresistibly you are
drawn to the Mulberry tree and it is impossible
to resist feasting straight
from the tree, paying the price later with
purple fingers and feet. Purple is
the colour of early summer and this
year it has brought both bad news and
good news for Zimbabwe.
The bad news came in the form of a half page
newspaper report
headlined ‘A.G. wants tough action against white farmers.’
Despite
the fact that only an estimated three hundred commercial farmers
are
still on their properties and that the government has seized 95%
of
the country’s farms without compensation in the last twelve years,
the
Attorney General isn’t happy. A.G. Tomana says the remaining
white Zimbabwean
farmers are clogging courts around the country with
what he calls ‘frivolous
appeals.’ Tomana says that the penalty
for white farmers refusing to vacate
land the government has gazetted
for compulsory acquisition is two years
imprisonment. ‘Prosecution
should have been the easiest way to deal with the
issue,’ Tomana
said. ‘It is strange that people continue to violate and break
the
law in open day and nothing is done,’ the Attorney General
said,
bemoaning the reluctance of officials to enforce the law.
While
talking about an absence of law enforcement , it was sad that
the
Attorney General said nothing about the thousands of perpetrators
of
crimes in the last twelve years who still walk freely amongst us.
Their
crimes, ranging from arson and rape to torture and murder were
committed
under the guise of ‘political violence’ and their
victims have waited for
over a decade but still justice hasn’t been
done.
Later in the week,
good news came from the South African Supreme Court
of Appeal. Nearly four
years after the SADC Tribunal ruled that
Zimbabwe’s land reform processes
were racist and that farmers ought
to have been compensated for their farms,
the South African Supreme
Court of Appeal upheld that ruling. A press release
from the SADC
Tribunal Watch said: ‘Despite the Zimbabwe government’s claims
to
the contrary, the Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed in its
judgment
that, according to the SADC Treaty, the decisions of the Tribunal
were
final and binding.’ The Court dismissed the appeal made by
the
Zimbabwe government against the attachment of
Zimbabwe
government-owned property in Cape Town whose sale will be used to
pay
legal costs.
Zanu PF’s Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus
Mutasa said:
“After this judgment, which is legal, we should let it go and
we
speak to the ANC and take a political
decision. I hope that is
possible.”
A legal ruling overturned by politics is something we’ve
become
familiar with in Zimbabwe, but in South Africa?
We are watching,
holding our breath; do we dare to hope?
Until next time, thanks for reading,
love cathy 22, September 2012.
Copyright � Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com
http://www.cathybuckle.com/
September 22, 2012, 1:55 am
Robert Mugabe
officially opened the Military Training Academy last week. The
$98 million
it cost to build the Academy was provided by the Chinese as a
loan repayable
over the next 13 years from the diamonds which the Chinese
are currently
mining in Zimbabwe. The Academy will be a ‘think tank’ said
Mugabe and by
2015 it will be a fully-fledged university. Any parent
thinking of
encouraging their offspring to register with this ‘seat of
learning’ would
do well to study the speech Mugabe made at the opening. A
degree or diploma
obtained from such an institution would certainly be
tainted with
anti-western, pro-Zanu PF propaganda – if Mugabe’s opening
speech is
anything to go by. He said that Zimbabwe was inspired to open such
an
Academy by the “west’s hate filled tactics” which had been evident since
the
year 2000. It was these tactics, he said, which resulted in Zimbabwe
seeing
the need to “beef up its national defences”. Without actually giving
any
factual evidence of foreign invasion, Mugabe claimed that Zimbabwe had
been
under attack from western forces aiming to destabilise the country. By
Mugabe’s standards, this was a short speech but it deserves to be quoted as
an example of his conviction that the whole western world is against him.
“At the height of the economic crisis in 2009-9 Zimbabweans temporarily
adopted an alien culture of drawing knives against each other as unusual
fights between brothers, sisters, uncles nieces, husbands and wives became a
common phenomenon. This explosion of negative forces and the generous
sponsorship they received sought to effect regime change through civil
disobedience. Indeed, the neo-colonial adventurism went to the extent of
seeking a military invasion of Zimbabwe.” Those who know Zimbabwe will
recognise that Mugabe was referring to the emerging political differences
between Zanu PF and the MDC. Realising that for the first time Zanu PF
hegemony was threatened, the war veterans and youth militia took up weapons
of one sort and another to defend Zanu PF and Mugabe. It was only the
signing of the MOU and the formation of a Government of National Unity that
brought an apparent end to inter-party strife.
It was only an
‘apparent end’ because it is very clear that
inter-party violence has not
ceased and if Robert Mugabe were being truthful
he would have to concede
that it is his own party stalwarts who are behind
the violence. The news
this week of the emergence of yet another terror
group, Alshabab, operating
this time in Kwekwe, is an indicator that
violence is being used to enforce
the so-called ‘black empowerment’ policy.
Alshabab is just one of the groups
- and they are all Zanu PF supporters. In
addition to Alshabab in Kwekwe,
Harare has Chipangano, in Chinhoyi it is the
Top Six, Jochomondo in Hurungwe
and Jambanja in UMP. These gangs combine
their criminal activities with
their political allegiance to Zanu PF and
Robert Mugabe. Only very rarely do
the police take action against them. Four
members of Alshabab were arrested
this week but later released without
charge. Alshabab is named after the
gang which operates in Somalia, and its
presence in Zimbabwe is a terrifying
sign of the way the country is going
with different areas controlled by
criminal gangs and the police unwilling
or unable to control them. “China
will help strengthen Zimbabwe’s defences
against western invasion” Mugabe
claims but he says nothing about the
violent invasion by his own supporters
of innocent citizens’ property by
these terror gangs.
Even some
Zanu supporters are openly admitting that CIO agents and Zanu
PF were
responsible for the murder of a policeman; a murder for which 29 MDC
supporters have served 16 months in gaol. The revelation this week that
Zimbabwe spends more on defence than it does on education is supported by
the continuing purchase of arms by the Zimbabwean government. Who is the
country, assisted by the Chinese-built ‘think tank’, defending itself
against this time other than its own citizens?
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson
