Mugabe accuses West of dividing GNU

“Land reform is the best thing that could have ever have happened…” : Mugabe on CNN

Amanpour gives Mugabe penalty kicks

 

September 25, 2009

By Munyaradzi Munochiveyi

BASED on the little that I struggled to glean  from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour’s interview with President Robert Mugabe, I must say I am very disappointed.

Christiane Amanpour

Not because it was another opportunity for Mugabe to rant and rave about his exhausted nationalist mantra, but because Amanpour displayed painfully crass ignorance of Zimbabwe’s history, which only gave Mugabe an enormous arsenal of weapons to dismiss some of her concerns.

Firstly, how could Amanpour, who has compellingly covered international news for so many years, approach Mugabe without a little bit of knowledge of Zimbabwe’s colonial history and the roots of the land crisis in Zimbabwe? She accused Mugabe of hounding out white Zimbabweans from “their” land just because they are white. Mugabe of course, with an understandable look of incredulity, reminded Amanpour that most of Zimbabwe’s white land owners are descendants of British white settlers who brutally dispossessed indigenous Africans of their land in the late nineteenth century and throughout much of the twentieth century.

Still, Amanpour continued to insist that these white settler descendants had the “right” to their land and that Mugabe was unjustifiably hounding them off their farms and chasing them out of Zimbabwe. To my amazement, she also accused Mugabe of unleashing “Operation Drive-Out Filth” on black farm workers who resided on white-owned farms. Again Mugabe, visibly angry with Amanpour’s ignorance, reminded her that “Operation Murambatsvina” was about clearing slums in the urban areas and not about displacing farm workers on white people’s farms.

Amanpour went on to ask many other questions that simply displayed her ignorance of the history and dimensions of the Zimbabwean crisis, much to the annoyance of Mugabe. Now, if Amanpour should know one thing, it is that Mugabe is not her average “third-world” leader with limited intellectual capacity. Mugabe easily gets irritated with shallow people, particularly journalists who ask him shallow questions that display poor knowledge of the Zimbabwean situation.

She should have known this from Mugabe’s recent reprimand of a US top Africa envoy, Johnnie Carson, whom he branded as an “idiot”.

Of course, I am not interested in the nitty-gritty aspects of Amanpour’s exchange with Mugabe, an exchange that was unhelpful to say the least. What I am concerned about is the prospect of Mugabe being given such prominent media platforms as CNN and not being confronted with well-researched questions, now that he has resolved not to dodge the media in his attempts to whitewash his many sins and transgressions of the recent past. I am sure Mugabe would still avoid knowledgeable journalists like our own Geoffrey Nyarotas and others (I hear he recently absconded from a meeting with Zimbabwean independent media editors, even though he had invited them in the first place).

He would also be careful to avoid such excellent international journalists like BBC Hard Talk’s Stephen Sackur.

But journalists like Amanpour give Mugabe the perfect platform to justify and whitewash his horrendous land reform program, his state-sponsored terror in rural Zimbabwe, and his total disregard for the rule of law and democracy. Such journalists do so by approaching Mugabe with the littlest of knowledge of the various dimensions of the Zimbabwean crisis.

For example, Amanpour’s ignorance of the simple fact that land reform in Zimbabwe was necessary because of the history of white settlers ruthlessly dispossessing blacks of their land gave Mugabe the perfect arsenal to justify his violent and chaotic land seizures by reminding Amanpour of this historical fact. Many Africans listening to this exchange would naturally side with Mugabe. And herein lies the danger: Mugabe again emerges as the champion of formerly dispossessed blacks and thus a victim of neo-colonial racists who want to perpetuate white settler interests in Zimbabwe.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth: Mugabe is no one’s victim. In fact, he is a victimizer who has launched brutal reprisals on all of his political opponents since the 1980s, black and white alike. The reasons for his brutality do not lie in the history of land dispossession but in his own insatiable thirst for power. But he gets to use these historical facts about colonialism to his advantage because of the ignorance of journalists like Amanpour.

Instead of asking Mugabe why he did not conduct a fair, non-violent and transparent land reform program, Amanpour told Mugabe that white Zimbabweans are entitled to that land just like any other Zimbabwean and that land reform was unnecessary. Instead of asking Mugabe why he has presided over a corrupt, kleptomaniac, and murderous government, she asked stupid questions that demonstrated her little grasp of the Zimbabwean crisis.

It is these kinds of journalists that Mugabe relishes to speak with, for he can continue with his dishonest narratives of “sanctions”, “British neocolonialism”, and so forth, ad nauseum. The saddest thing is that Africans and many other people with sympathies for Africans will believe him because he speaks from a concrete history that journalists like Amanpour are ignorant about.

Now, I foresee Mugabe’s handlers encouraging him to go on a media blitz, particularly with Western media outlets where he will outshine and outsmart uninformed journalists who approach him with un-researched questions and clichéd lines like “why is there no democracy in Zimbabwe”, to which Mugabe will of course simply reply by saying “we have held elections in Zimbabwe every five years since 1980”.

If western journalists want to help Zimbabweans, and Africans in general, I suggest that they either recruit competent Africa media practitioners or demand their Amanpours to educate themselves about African issues before they embarrass themselves in front of people like Mugabe.

CNN must particularly relay this message to Christiane Amanpour who seems to be regarded as the doyen of “international” news.

(Munyaradzi Munochiveyi is based in Boston, Massachusetts)

Mixed reactions over CNN interview with Mugabe

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

25 September 2009
By Violet Gonda

There have been mixed reactions to CNN's interview with Robert Mugabe on
Thursday. This was Mugabe's first interview with a foreign news agency for
at least five years. Some observers thought interviewer Christiane Amanpour
missed a few tricks and failed to push the Zimbabwean leader on several of
his answers.

In some cases it appeared her producers had not fully researched the facts
of the situation in Zimbabwe. For example she thought Operation
Murambatsvina was the forced removal of farm workers, which gave Mugabe an
opportunity to correct her.

But for many Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and at home, this was a rare
opportunity to see a glimpse of Mugabe in a different setting, after years
of unchallenged interviews by the state controlled media.

People posted varying views on the social networking site Facebook, with one
angry Zimbabwean writing: "Christiane's interview with Mugabe was so badly
researched, it's shocking. She went into that interview armed with nothing
more than hearsay, old rehashed accusations about Mugabe that he learnt to
easily fob off years ago... There was so much Christiane could have asked.
Yet, she pressed on with the line of enquiry preferred by western
journalists, a line that allows Mugabe to cast himself as the liberator of
black people."

But another Zimbabwean wrote: "I did not see any winner in it. Zimbabweans
should not be led in their know-how about Zimbabwe by a CNN interview. A man
who claims there is enough food in Zimbabwe is just not normal and no matter
(how) eloquent - he is still a liar. "
Amanpour did manage to catch Mugabe off balance in some parts of the
interview, most notably on the question of his victimisation of Roy Bennett.
The 85 year old leader seemed flustered and could hardly get his words out
when asked to clarify the charges facing the MDC Deputy Minister of
Agricultural appointee. He responded: "Charged with -- with having, you
know, tried to put -- I think he was found responsible for -- that's the
allegation. The allegation is that he's responsible for organizing arms of
war against Zimbabwe. ... and -- and -- and that this -- these are the
charges that are being made on the face of them."
Strangely Amanpour followed up by saying: "Well, we'll obviously have to ask
him about that. Mr. Mugabe, that's certainly the first I'm hearing of it,
and we will, obviously, put that to them."
Rashweat Mukundu, the programmes manager for the Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat, wrote: "Amanpour stated clearly that her
Rhodesian journalists friends, some of them ex-Rhodesian soldiers, really
enjoyed the first ten years of Mugabe's rule. In those ten years, Mugabe
presided over the massacre of thousands of Ndebeles who happened to support
an opposition party and belong to an ethnic group other than his. It is,
therefore, wrong for CNN to say Zimbabwe's crisis is a post-2000 phenomenon
and only so because Mugabe started grabbing farms from white farmers."
Writing for the New Zimbabwe website, Mukundu said: "Amanpour thus sunk into
a familiar tune that Mugabe was well prepared for, giving a full lecture of
history which Amanpour was, again, unprepared for. Statistics are there all
over the internet on how Mugabe's government abused donor funds and
resettled farmers sank more into poverty. Mugabe's views were never
seriously challenged."
Other observers say that for an 85 year old, Mugabe looked young, fresh and
was alert, although as usual he lacked any sense of remorse. His stance
throughout was to deny everything and he refused to accept any
responsibility for his actions.
Once again he rejected the fact that his disastrous policies resulted in the
destruction of the country's economy and blamed the crisis on targeted
sanctions imposed by western countries and, of course, on another of his
favourites, the drought.

He refused to say if he was going to stand in the next election and denied
any knowledge of the fact that up to 4 million Zimbabweans had left the
country, a third of the population.

He also denied losing in last year's election and that white farmers were
being hounded out of the country. But then he contradicted himself by saying
they were being deliberately hounded off the land because 'historically they
had a debt to pay' and he described white Zimbabweans as 'citizens by
colonisation'.

When it came to the question on the effect of the land grab on black farm
workers he made it sound as though they had three options - to stay on the
farm under the new owner, be repatriated to their land of origin, or be
resettled by the government. As all Zimbabweans know, the farm workers have
been some of the most brutalised people in Zimbabwe and most are now
completely destitute and on the edge of starvation.

A Facebooker concluded: "After it's all said and done, Mugabe said himself
that only God can remove him and I think that is what's going to happen.
Only thing is he's going to wish he had stepped down voluntarily coz when
the Almighty brings you down....ehe!"

Mixed reactions over CNN interview with Mugabe
25 September 2009
By Violet Gonda

There have been mixed reactions to CNN's interview with Robert Mugabe on
Thursday. This was Mugabe's first interview with a foreign news agency for
at least five years. Some observers thought interviewer Christiane Amanpour
missed a few tricks and failed to push the Zimbabwean leader on several of
his answers.

In some cases it appeared her producers had not fully researched the facts
of the situation in Zimbabwe. For example she thought Operation
Murambatsvina was the forced removal of farm workers, which gave Mugabe an
opportunity to correct her.

But for many Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and at home, this was a rare
opportunity to see a glimpse of Mugabe in a different setting, after years
of unchallenged interviews by the state controlled media.

People posted varying views on the social networking site Facebook, with one
angry Zimbabwean writing: "Christiane's interview with Mugabe was so badly
researched, it's shocking. She went into that interview armed with nothing
more than hearsay, old rehashed accusations about Mugabe that he learnt to
easily fob off years ago... There was so much Christiane could have asked.
Yet, she pressed on with the line of enquiry preferred by western
journalists, a line that allows Mugabe to cast himself as the liberator of
black people."

But another Zimbabwean wrote: "I did not see any winner in it. Zimbabweans
should not be led in their know-how about Zimbabwe by a CNN interview. A man
who claims there is enough food in Zimbabwe is just not normal and no matter
(how) eloquent - he is still a liar. "
Amanpour did manage to catch Mugabe off balance in some parts of the
interview, most notably on the question of his victimisation of Roy Bennett.
The 85 year old leader seemed flustered and could hardly get his words out
when asked to clarify the charges facing the MDC Deputy Minister of
Agricultural appointee. He responded: "Charged with -- with having, you
know, tried to put -- I think he was found responsible for -- that's the
allegation. The allegation is that he's responsible for organizing arms of
war against Zimbabwe. ... and -- and -- and that this -- these are the
charges that are being made on the face of them."
Strangely Amanpour followed up by saying: "Well, we'll obviously have to ask
him about that. Mr. Mugabe, that's certainly the first I'm hearing of it,
and we will, obviously, put that to them."
Rashweat Mukundu, the programmes manager for the Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat, wrote: "Amanpour stated clearly that her
Rhodesian journalists friends, some of them ex-Rhodesian soldiers, really
enjoyed the first ten years of Mugabe's rule. In those ten years, Mugabe
presided over the massacre of thousands of Ndebeles who happened to support
an opposition party and belong to an ethnic group other than his. It is,
therefore, wrong for CNN to say Zimbabwe's crisis is a post-2000 phenomenon
and only so because Mugabe started grabbing farms from white farmers."
Writing for the New Zimbabwe website, Mukundu said: "Amanpour thus sunk into
a familiar tune that Mugabe was well prepared for, giving a full lecture of
history which Amanpour was, again, unprepared for. Statistics are there all
over the internet on how Mugabe's government abused donor funds and
resettled farmers sank more into poverty. Mugabe's views were never
seriously challenged."
Other observers say that for an 85 year old, Mugabe looked young, fresh and
was alert, although as usual he lacked any sense of remorse. His stance
throughout was to deny everything and he refused to accept any
responsibility for his actions.
Once again he rejected the fact that his disastrous policies resulted in the
destruction of the country's economy and blamed the crisis on targeted
sanctions imposed by western countries and, of course, on another of his
favourites, the drought.

He refused to say if he was going to stand in the next election and denied
any knowledge of the fact that up to 4 million Zimbabweans had left the
country, a third of the population.

He also denied losing in last year's election and that white farmers were
being hounded out of the country. But then he contradicted himself by saying
they were being deliberately hounded off the land because 'historically they
had a debt to pay' and he described white Zimbabweans as 'citizens by
colonisation'.

When it came to the question on the effect of the land grab on black farm
workers he made it sound as though they had three options - to stay on the
farm under the new owner, be repatriated to their land of origin, or be
resettled by the government. As all Zimbabweans know, the farm workers have
been some of the most brutalised people in Zimbabwe and most are now
completely destitute and on the edge of starvation.

A Facebooker concluded: "After it's all said and done, Mugabe said himself
that only God can remove him and I think that is what's going to happen.
Only thing is he's going to wish he had stepped down voluntarily coz when
the Almighty brings you down....ehe!"

Robert Mugabe has built up 10,000-acre farm of seized land

Robert Mugabe has built up a secret farming empire from land seized from at least five white-owned businesses, a Daily Telegraph investigation has found.

 

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger
Published: 5:59PM BST 25 Sep 2009

 

Violent land seizures began in Zimbabwe in 2000 carried out by so- called "war veterans" (pictured) Photo: AFP/GETTY

The discovery of the 10,000-acre holding worth £2 million is the first evidence of how he personally benefited from the land seizures programme which started in 2000.

More than 4,000 commercial farmers had their land taken in the drive that destroyed Zimbabwe's agriculture industry, the bedrock of the economy.

The country, now being guided by a power-sharing deal struck last year between Mr Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai, desperately needs to rebuild its shattered economy.

But Mr Mugabe's private farming empire is an obstacle to resurrecting commercial agriculture, according to experts. They say an audit of land ownership as part of essential structural reforms would expose the president's controversial control of the 10,000-acre area.

The Daily Telegraph located Mr Mugabe's private empire in the Darwendale area, near Mr Mugabe's tribal home, about 30 miles west of the capital Harare.

It is made up of six farms, including five properties seized from white owners over the years.

Violent land seizures began in Zimbabwe in 2000 carried out by so- called "war veterans" who fought against Ian Smith's white-ruled Rhodesia before independence from Britain in 1980. A parallel official process to take legal ownership of the white-owned land began the following year.

The 1,100-acre Highfield farm near Mr Mugabe's tribal home was bought commercially but five others were seized from their white owners.

Three were owned by the Skea family – Cressydale, John O'Groat, and Tankatara – who were forced out between 2000 and 2002 and have emigrated to Australia and New Zealand. The owners of the other two farms – Clifford and Cressydale 2 – were forced out in 2006 and 2008.

Leo Skea, who used to grow proteas and other crops at John O'Groat, said: "We arrived back from Europe in July 2002 to a farm overrun with war vets and we made the decision to leave as we could feel ourselves getting back on the treadmill to who knows where."

According to staff, the five seized farms were initially run by the government's Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA), which poured in millions of pounds of Zimbabwean taxpayers' money.

One long-serving worker recalled the frightening days when the farm invasions began in 2000.

"First the president bought Highfield. Hordes of people were brought into another farm in open trucks and gathered all the workers, and told them it now belongs to ARDA," he said. "Those who didn't want to work for ARDA were beaten up and told to leave the farm, and the invaders started staying in the houses."

Workers said ARDA's role was reduced in 2006 and a small group of "war veterans" occupying some of the land were also asked to leave to make way for Mr Mugabe.

One of the war veterans, wearing faded blue overalls and shoes made from car tyres said Mr Mugabe had made sacrifices for the freedom of Zimbabwe, including a decade in jail, and deserved to have the land which now makes up his estate. He said: "He is our hero."

On several visits to the estate by The Daily Telegraph it was clear that the six farms were now being operated as a single business.

Workers said they were now employed either by Mr Mugabe or "Gushungo", his family name, which is also the new name for the estate.

"We were told the farms belong to the president," said the worker, who cannot be named for his own safety, or the farm on which he lives identified.

The appropriation of the farms by the president has not been officially confirmed. Earlier this year, this year the state- controlled Herald newspaper referred to Highfield as "the president's farm" but there was no mention of the neighbouring land.

The total estate now stretches over 10,000 acres on the edge of Lake Robertson including homesteads, managers' cottages, workers' houses, huge barns, sheds, workshops and 19 recently-acquired portable rotating irrigation systems known as centre pivots which cost about £80,000 each.

The estate is valued at about £2 million and Mr Mugabe visits every three months or so according to workers and some residents of Norton, a small town nearby.

They said his 14-vehicle motorcade, which normally includes an ambulance, would sweep along the dusty dirt roads of the area.

Staff say that Mr Mugabe grows maize, rice, wheat, different sorghums, and sweet potatoes, and has a herd of Brahmin cattle, goats, plus five camels. According to the official press, the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi presented Mr Mugabe with some camels early this decade.

Under Zimbabwe's state cereal trading monopoly, Mr Mugabe will have had to sell his produce to the Grain Marketing Board, which distributes it within the country. The monopoly was abolished under the unity government earlier this year, but it is not yet time for the next harvest.

The lush lands of Mr Mugabe's estate contrast sharply with former white-owned land in much of the country.

Zimbabwe's white commercial farmers, and the tens of thousands of employees they supported, used to produce exports which earned 40 per cent of the country's foreign currency. But now satellite images indicate that less than 20 per cent of the 20 million acres that were seized are in use.

The white farmers' demise – and the distribution of their farms to cronies of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party – triggered the catastrophic decline of the economy which has seen millions of people needing food aid.

A crucial clause in the political agreement signed between Zanu-PF and Mr Tsvangirai's MDC party a year ago demands a land audit as a preliminary step to rebuilding agriculture.

Brian Raftopoulous, a top Zimbabwean political scientist, said: "This is part of Zanu PF's rapid accumulation of property since 2000 and explains in particular the deep relationship between Zanu-PF's unwillingness to accede to a free and fair election, and its increasing control of the land.

"A land audit would expose the deep levels of corruption of public resources over the last decade, a very real blockage in the political agreement."

Mr Mugabe even argued as part of his justification for seizing farms that no one should have more than one farm.

Trevor Gifford, past president of the Commercial Farmers Union, said that as the properties were originally six different title deeds, Mr Mugabe was "breaking his own rules".

"None of owners of the five farms have been paid any compensation for them, which they should be according to the law," he said.

With the workings of the inclusive government still difficult, an MDC spokesman said that the party leader and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai would not want to be "discourteous" by commenting on Mr Mugabe's personal affairs at this stage.

But Vincent Gwaradzimba, the MDC secretary for lands and agriculture said: "A land audit would expose that he (Mr Mugabe) has multiple farms, so one way to avoid a land audit is to make sure there is no full implementation of the political agreement. The land reform exercise was meant for the few, senior members of Zanu PF, and they have taken most of the good land for themselves."

The Daily Telegraph has asked Mr Mugabe whether he has received licences for the five seized farms but has not received a response.

No response has been received to requests for comment from Mr Mugabe's office, his spokesman, the agriculture ministry, or the central bank.

New invasions leave 66,000 farmworkers homeless in Zimbabwe

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Africa News
Sep 25, 2009, 13:13 GMT

Harare/Johannesburg - Over 66,000 farmworkers in Zimbabwe have been made
homeless since February and are fighting for survival following a new spate
of invasions of white-owned farms, a farm union said Friday.

The report by the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) claimed the farm's new owners had hired the police to
force farmworkers and their families off the land.

Most of the workers were living rough, by the roadside or in the mountains
where they had set up squatter camps, GAPWUZ said in a report entitled Fresh
Invasions and Challenges Faced by Farmworkers in Zimbabwe that it presented
to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai this week.

The report expressed concerns for the health of the labourers, most of whom
come from neighbouring Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, saying they were
forced to walk long distances to find water and that they were drinking from
rivers contaminated with animal fecal matter.

GAPWUZ said the workers had been laid off by the new farmers - mostly
military officials and/or members of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party - because they were seen as loyal to their previous white bosses and
because the new farmers were not engaged in productive farming.

'Farmworkers have been turned into nomads,' the report said.

The labourers, some of whom had been beaten by police, had no access to
medical assistance in the squatter camps, which were regularly raided by the
authorities, the report said.

Last year, GAPWUZ estimated that 350,000 black farmworkers had been
displaced by the redistribution of farms to new black farmers since 2000.

In recent weeks, evictions have been taking place 'almost daily,' the group
said in a claim that tallies with reports from the around 400 white farmers
left on the land, who have reported an increase in farm invasions in recent
weeks.

Several foreign newspapers reported over the past week that the Land
Ministry, which is controlled by Zanu-PF, had recommended to cabinet that
all remaining white farmers be expropriated.

The new farmers have been given 'offer letters' from the government, which
they say entitles them to the land.

Mugabe defended his brand of land reform again on Thursday, telling CNN in
New York it was the 'best thing could have ever have happened to an African
country.'

An official from Tsvangirai's office, Abisha Nyanguwo, said a government
team would 'be on the ground from next week to get to the root of the
problem.'

Mugabe's workers lament his takeover

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Robert Mugabe always argued that his land seizures would liberate
Zimbabweans from poverty, but those who work on his farms say they were
better off under their former bosses.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Published: 5:50PM BST 25 Sep 2009

Misheck - whose real name cannot be disclosed for fear of reprisals - grew
up on one of the farms on Mr Mugabe's estate and his two children were born
and are schooled there.

"The farm managers are cruel. The new one doesn't let us go into the fields
after the combines have been in to pick what's left, wheat seeds, potatoes,
sweet potatoes," he said.

"The previous farmers gave continuity and used the farm properly, and we got
bonuses after a good harvest. He also listened to our personal problems.
Getting a loan now is a thing of the past," he said.

After the farms were invaded, he said, "they stopped workers from doing
anything on the farm if they were suspected of loyalty to the previous
owner, or connected to MDC. They would harass and beat people."

Later rumours circulated that the farms had been taken for the president.

"First we were told we would be working for ARDA, then later we were told
the farms belong to the president. Some were told by [agriculture minister]
Joseph [Made], some were told by management.

"Some who had been working for ARDA were upset because by moving to
Gushungo, [Mr Mugabe's company] they would lose their pensions." Workers say
they are paid minimum wage for the jobs they carry out, which ranges from
£13 to £25 a month. They receive enough maize meal for their families and
recently were also given vegetables, and have free accommodation. Some of
the workers' villages have electricity, while others do not.

Police shoot striking mine workers in Zvishavane

http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
25 September 2009

Three Shabanie mine workers were shot and injured by riot police in
Zvishavane on Friday, during a peaceful demonstration over a salary and
ownership dispute with management.

Hundreds more were injured in a stampede when the heavily armed riot police
also fired teargas at the striking workers. 30 others were arrested and are
being detained at Zvishavane police station.

Tichaona Chivasa, a lawyer representing the injured victims and those
arrested, told SW Radio Africa that over a thousand mine workers were
staging a peaceful sit-in protest when police opened fire on them and their
families just after 7am.

He said the condition of the three men who had been shot was serious but
stable. Although they had been taken to hospital they were receiving no
medical help.  Chivasa said doctors at the district hospital were too afraid
to treat the gunshot victims because of threats from state security agents.

'The doctors need an incident report from the police to treat the victims.
This document gives government doctors permission to treat gunshot victims.
Obviously this incident has turned political because CIO's are roaming the
hospital and this has instilled fear in the medical staff,' Chivasa said.

The lawyer named the victims as Alois Zhou, Taurai Zhou and Simbarashe
Mashuku. He said Alois sustained a gunshot wound to the hand while Taurai
and Mashuku suffered leg wounds. Alois is also the chairman of Zvishavane
town council and an MDC councillor.

'These are serious wounds, permanent wounds as explained to me by the
doctors. There was not the slightest justification or provocation for this
attack. These people were within the mining premises with their children and
wives in solidarity,' he said.

Chivasa, who was himself detained by the police for four hours at the
hospital, accused them of excessive force in dealing with the
demonstrators. The workers had already been on a month long strike as,
according to Chivasa, they had not been paid any salaries for the past nine
months. 'I do not understand why police reacted so heavy-handedly because
there was no need for them to be involved in the first place. What is
worrying is that these people were not in town but within company premises
and peaceful,' he said.

Chivasa added; 'What's shocking now is that the three victims, complainants
in this case, are now being treated as the accused by the police. They are
under police guard as if they've committed any crime. This is absurd, a
clear violation of human rights by the authorities.'

The MDC meanwhile released a statement denouncing the police action and
called upon the co-Ministers of Home Affairs, Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo
Mohadi, to make urgent investigations into the conduct of the 'trigger-happy
policemen.'

'Today's shooting incident in Zvishavane is unacceptable in the context of
the inclusive government where the culture and deportment of national
security institutions have to reflect a new culture of respecting human
rights and people's freedoms. The MDC is a party born from the labour
movement and we believe in the sanctity of the working people's right to
engage in collective job action,' the statement said.

Workers at the mine have for years been trying to find out the status of the
mine, since it was taken over by government from Mutumwa Mawere, who is now
in exile in South Africa.

In 2004 Mugabe's regime placed SMM Holdings (Private) limited under the
control of a state appointed administrator, Arafas Gwarazimba. Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa is reportedly involved with activities at the
mine as are other top government officials.

The top political hierachy reportedly make a lot of money from this asbestos
mine, but the workers have not received their salaries since January.

The unprovoked shooting of the demonstrators on Friday comes in the wake of
an arrest of a Kenyan environmental activist in Mutare on Thursday. Police
accused Patrick Ochieng of making 'undesirable political statements' during
a workshop organized by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA).
Ochieng was being held at the Mutare Central Police Station as of Thursday
night. Reports say he is a director of Ujamaa Center, an environmental
lobbying organisation based in Nairobi.

The workshop was attended by legislators and environmental
conservationists from across the country. Sources said that during
discussions Ochieng criticised the methods used by the government to exploit
the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

MDC insist Gono and Tomana must go, despite Mugabe's refusal

http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance Guma
25 September 2009

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa has told Newsreel that Mugabe's defiant
statement that he would 'never' remove Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and
Attorney General Johannes Tomana 'was nothing new' and represented the usual
intransigence. Responding to questions on Mugabe's interviews with the
Reuters and CNN news agencies Chamisa accused the ZANU PF leader of sounding
like a 'broken record.' He told us Mugabe's message against targeted
sanctions imposed by the west has been the same message over the last decade
and the 85-year old had nothing new to offer the country.

Chamisa dismissed as 'absolute rubbish' claims by Mugabe that he appointed
Gono and Tomana before the power sharing agreement came into being. He said
Mugabe only became President as a result of the power sharing agreement and
so was bound by its provisions. 'Nothing that was done before the power
sharing deal stands. The fact that he was a president before the power
sharing deal doesn't make him one,' he said.

The Kuwadzana legislator said attempts to keep Gono and Tomana were
consistent with ZANU PF's desire 'to protect their deadwood'. He said ZANU
PF has to realize that the power sharing deal means the parties to the
agreement have to consult each other on all senior appointments. The dispute
over Gono and Tomana and other outstanding issues are due to be tackled by
the SADC troika.

Reacting to Mugabe's claims that Roy Bennett could only be sworn in once he
has been cleared of the 'criminal charges' he is facing, Chamisa called this
'absolute hot air'. He said Mugabe's argument 'had no legs to stand on' as
he knew deep down the charges were false and simply meant to frustrate the
MDC.

Commenting on Mugabe's call for targeted sanctions to be removed Chamisa
said the ZANU PF leader was 'clutching at straws, shadow chasing and shadow
boxing'. He said the MDC has always argued that ZANU PF's 'mantra on
sanctions' will never hold and be accepted by the people of Zimbabwe. 'This
message has been played over and over it now attracts scorn in Zimbabwe,' he
said. He added 'if you find yourself complaining about the same problem for
over a decade without any solutions then you have no business being in
government.'

Law and Order hunts for MDC security chief

http://www.zimnetradio.com

By KING SHANGO
Published on: 24th September, 2009

HARARE - Police details from the Law and Order Section are looking for MDC
Director of Security Chris Dhlamini for questioning.

Dhlamini last month presented a dossier of murdered MDC victims of violence
to the Attorney-General's Office.

The AG's office has not taken any action on the alleged perpetrators of
violence despite the fact that some of the culprits are known and police
reports were made.

Dhlamini received a call today from an officer from the Law and Order
Section advising him to report at the Harare Central Police Station in
connection with the dossier submitted to the AG's Office.

Last year Dhlamini and other MDC activists were arrested on trumped-up
charges of banditry charges and spent months in remand prison until his
release on bail in February this year.

Board Gives School System Failing Marks

 
By Vusumuzi Sifile

No books, no teachers, no school - Denzil Maruva enjoyed time off during a strike. Half of all primary schoolchildren won't graduate. Credit: Stanley Kwenda/IPS

HARARE, Sep 24 (IPS) - Primary and secondary school education in Zimbabwe has "fallen woefully behind" other southern African countries due to shortages of textbooks and other materials as well as deteriorating working conditions and resultant low morale for teachers.

Most affected are girls, who form the majority of children at primary and secondary schools.

According to a newly published report by the National Education Advisory Board (NEAB), there is now "a high level of absenteeism (being) reported, including of school heads".

The 14-member NEAB was appointed by the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, David Coltart in March to look into problems affecting the education sector and come up with recommendations. Its chairperson, Dr Isaiah Shumba, is a former deputy minister of education.

"Parents and pupils had deserted schools because of the lack of teachers. Teachers were reported to be poorly motivated and afraid. They were neglecting their professional duties most of the time," reads the NEAB report, released just days before teachers called off a nationwide strike over low pay and poor working conditions.

The report says 196,000 children drop out of primary school annually, out of a total primary school enrolment that stood at just under 2.5 million at the end of 2008. If the current trend continues, half of these children won't proceed to secondary school.

"Such a large number of dropouts can prove a politically and socially destabilising force, particularly given the lack of economic growth and lack of employment opportunities," reads the NEAB's Rapid Assessment of Primary and Secondary Education (RAPSE).

Failure to contain the situation could have "a serious potential for political and social destabilisation", as it condemns the youths to unskilled and poorly-paid work, if not outright unemployment.

"The shrinkage of secondary education also raises concerns," says the RAPSE.

Girls constitute 50.5 percent of the enrolment at primary and secondary school at present. But enrolment is one thing, actually getting an education is another.

"(Girls) are often not at school, (which) renders them even more vulnerable to abuse in various forms," the NEAB report says. At school, "girls are often raped by their teachers, especially headmasters."

Though the report contained no statistics, it suggested that incidents are most common in the new resettlement areas, where children have been uprooted from communities which would normally offer them some protection.

Following land seizures by the government, a number of schools have been set up, usually in warehouses in former commercial farms, to cater for the children of the "new farmers".

The water crisis in urban areas, which has led to the collapse of sewer and reticulation services, is also impeding education. Girls are often forced to walk long distances looking for water, exposing them to contact with raw sewage and unsafe drinking water. This exposes them to diseases, which also affects their participation at school.

The report has proposals that could see school become the focal point for rural water supply. It says the construction of at least one "borehole for every rural primary school will assist girls and women who have to collect water for the household. Girls will then be saved from having to fetch water from distant areas."

The NEAB urges the Ministry of Education, Sports, Art and Culture "to undertake some immediate reforms, many of which do not require additional funding."

Among these reforms, the report proposes "bringing teachers and communities closer together through a community development approach to fund raising for the school". The establishment of school fees sub committees will also ensure that fees are charged in line with the economic status of parents, encouraging more accountability of fees and bursaries, in particular recommendations to BEAM.

To ease the shortage of textbooks, the report says the government should "remove customs duties on raw materials required for printing text books, and suspend tax on sale of textbooks to enable schools to acquire textbooks".

"There is a serious shortage of textbooks in schools at present, making it difficult for quality education to be achieved."

The report also proposes that primary education should be free for all pupils, as is the case in some southern Africa countries. Early this year, the government announced that primary education in rural areas would be free.

Pupils in urban areas pay 20 U.S. dollars in high-density areas and $150 in wealthier parts of town. Secondary school pupils are required to pay between $50 and $200. But while the tuition fees are low, most schools are charging more than double those amounts in development levies.

It also proposes that at secondary schools, parents should contribute part of teachers' salaries. In cases where parents cannot afford this, the state and donors should subsidise indigent families.

Teachers' unions however view the plan as scandalous.

"As teachers we are opposed to that," said Raymond Majongwe, Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ). "It will create dual allegiance, where teachers ultimately don’t know who their employer is. We should go back to a rare ZANU-PF success story, where the government paid for the education of all children. It would be scandalous to allow a situation where parents are fleeced of their hard earned cash."

Majongwe supported the view contained in the report that scholarships should be structured in a way that benefits girls, and cushion them from dropping out. He said teachers should be specially trained to cater for girls’ needs.

"At the moment, the environment at schools favours boys than girls. A lot of these girls come to schools in numbers, but if you look at the top the girl child is not there. This has long term effects even on the presence of women in decision-making positions."

Most girls who fall pregnant at school are expelled and usually find it to resume after maternity. Majongwe said there was "need to make sure that those girls that fall pregnant at school should be accommodated."

The U.N. Children's Agency (UNICEF) has partnered with international donors to inject 70 million U.S. dollars into the education system. The money would be used to purchase textbooks and "reach every child in Zimbabwe with a text book within 12 months."

The announcement was made by UNICEF representative in Zimbabwe, Peter Salama, who also announced that his organisation was reviving the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to assist children with fees.

In the view of Education Minister David Coltart, no matter how much resources are put at schools, the biggest challenge is to convince teachers to work under current conditions while negotiations continue. Coltart got some relief on Sep 19 when the Zimbabwe Teachers Association called off a three weeks long teachers strike.

Times still hard in Zimbabwe as Mugabe smiles

http://news.scotsman.com

Published Date: 25 September 2009
By Jane Fields
MUCH has changed in Zimbabwe in the seven months since Morgan Tsvangirai was
sworn in as prime minister. The fuel queues are gone. Once-empty shop
shelves are stocked with goods. You can buy Marmite Cheese Spread in Spar.

But prices are still high. Teachers went back to work on Monday after a
three-week strike over pay: their paypackets, worth £95, may be 150 times
larger than last year's but the sum barely covers the bill from the state
TelOne phone company, let alone anything else.

Tariffs are being set high to recoup losses of the last decade. Discontent
is rising. If anyone complains, Mr Tsvangirai gets the blame.

President Robert Mugabe is cynically using continued EU and US sanctions on
his ZANU-PF elite to foster dissatisfaction with the former opposition
leader.

Official media, still controlled by the presidential spokesman, has long
maintained that "illegal western sanctions" caused food and drug shortages,
hyperinflation and hospital shut-downs. The message is repeated on every
news bulletin, with remarkable success.

Ask almost any Zimbabwean, from manicurist to university lecturer, how to
repair the economy and he or she will reply: "We need sanctions lifted."

As Zimbabweans feel the pinch, they're being told that Mr Tsvangirai, leader
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has "failed" to get sanctions
lifted.

The MDC is being shoehorned into a defensive position. Which is exactly
where ZANU-PF wants it. Mr Mugabe, who at 85 shows no signs of slowing down,
is enjoying himself.

He welcomed an EU delegation to Harare with open arms this month (though he
later lectured them on Zimbabwean history). Delegates said he was at ease
and relaxed.

His ministers emulate his style. Wildlife operators in the southern Masvingo
area speak of a "friendly" phase of land reform that's just been launched,
this time without the messy militias. The ranchers were summoned to a
meeting with ZANU-PF officials and informed they had "new partners" who'd
been given 25-year leases on their properties.

"The ministers were all almost jovial," said a businessman. "They know
exactly what they are doing and will not be deterred."

No matter that the properties are protected by international investment
treaties: with his protégé, the Democratic Republic of Congo president
Joseph Kabila, at the helm of the regional Southern African Development
Community, Mr Mugabe can do just as he likes.

Should anyone back home challenge him, state radio reminds Zimbabweans once
an hour that the president is commander-in-chief of the defence forces. In
the last fortnight, army commanders have made threats against foreign-based
radio stations and NGOs.

Determined not to suffer another election loss, Mr Mugabe's party is
"restructuring". It's a bloody process: two women were badly injured at the
weekend when rival factions of the ZANU-PF women's league threw chairs at
each other in Harare.

Ominously, former information minister Jonathan Moyo is back on the scene.
The brains behind internationally condemned press laws, Professor Moyo was
dismissed from ZANU-PF in 2005 after plotting against Joyce Mujuru, Mr
Mugabe's choice of vice-president.

After penning vitriolic anti-MDC pieces, his application to rejoin the party
should succeed. ZANU-PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa calls
him an "important asset".

The MDC's victories are being overturned. Though a government committee
ruled in July the banned Daily News could apply for an operating licence,
the newspaper is still not on the streets: Mr Mugabe is stalling the
appointments of media commissioners who will issue the licences. Meanwhile,
the ZANU-PF-controlled Zimpapers group is bringing out new titles.

With reports of intimidation of MDC supporters in rural areas, Mr Tsvangirai
is frustrated. "We in the MDC have shown respect, conciliation and
understanding to ZANU-PF and what have we got in return? Nothing," he told
his supporters this month.

He's asked them to decide whether he should stay in the coalition. Few
believe he will pull out. A snap election would be held under the current
Lancaster House constitution, which gives Mr Mugabe unfettered powers.

A commentator recently likened the power-sharing government to an attempt to
keep a lion pride co-existing with a family of zebras during a drought.

As ordinary Zimbabweans try to stretch their 'Obamas' - local slang for US
dollars - they're wondering when the lions will pounce.

. Jane Fields has reported from Zimbabwe for The Scotsman since 2001.

Farmers Stranded As Free Hand-Outs Dry Up

http://www.radiovop.com


Chinhoyi -September 25, 2009 - Zimbabwe's new black farmers, who in
the past have depended on free handouts, are now finding it difficult to
survive, as government is no longer able to assist them.

The new unity government says it is broke and is failing to pay its
civil servants decent salaries. Donors have shunned away, demanding an
improvement in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA),
which brought about the new government in February.

Givemore Marigachando, a farmer in Banket, says he is no longer able
to continue with his farming activities without the free handouts.

''I used to get a monthly allocation of 2 500 liters of diesel and I
had an open market for that as I used to sell to transporters, but now I am
failing to get seed maize as well as the loans from banks,'' he says.

Marigachando, used to get free diesel even if he did not own a
vehicle.

His 60-hectare plot near Banket farming town in Mashonaland West
province, now lies idle in a country, which is battling to feed its people
and relying on donors.
In the past weeks, Marigachando has been queuing at Agribank for
hours, trying his luck on a loan.
Armed with a torn khaki envelope with his offer letter signed by then
minister of Agriculture Joseph Made, he recently spent four hours at
Agribank in Chinhoyi town, about 120 kilometers north-west of Harare, trying
to locate a Zanu PF politician to facilitate his loan application.

He still believes politicians are still influencing everything.

Dejected, he summons courage to ask a bank teller who reluctantly
tells him that there must be security before he gets a loan approval.
Agribank used to disburse agricultural loans for new farmers,
particularly to Zanu PF youths as well as war veterans.

Marigachando says he has failed to feed his family of four kids and
wife and is begging for food.

''The bank tellers are no longer respecting us these days'' says Edfan
Mutakagura, another past beneficiary of free handouts.

However a bank teller who spoke to Radio VOP says: ''I remember some
of these youths acquiring seed and fertilizer for winter wheat for four
consecutive seasons but never harvested a bucket full of wheat to feed the
nation."
In its un-audited interim results released on Wednesday, Agribank
welcomed the inclusive government that has created the basis for sound macro
economic policies.
''The bank holds collateral and security against loans and advances to
customers in form of mortgages properties with estimates of fair value of
security based of collateral assessed at the time of borrowing.''
The bank teller says many of these farmers will find it difficult to
survive as they were taken for a ride and made to believe that farming was
not a business.

Zimbabwe Has Long Health Road Ahead

http://www.voanews.com



By Sandra Nyaira
Washington
25 September 2009

As Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe noted in remarks to the United Nations
on Friday, the country while making some progress against HIV/AIDS faces a
major challenge making antiretroviral drugs available to all of those who
need them to live with HIV.

The Ministry of Health and National Aids Council announced this week that
the drop in HIV prevalence to 13.7% from 15.6% in 2008 and 24.6% in 2003 was
due to heightened awareness, showing that state and donor programs are
working.

Frenk Guni, technical director for HIV-Aids with Management Systems
International in Washington, told reporter Sandra Nyaira of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that celebration is not in order as 13.7% is too high a level
of infection among those 15 and older.

Elsewhere, health experts have been warning for months of a potential
resurgence of cholera in Zimbabwe, where a major epidemic of the disease
claimed more than 4,200 lives through mid-2009. Now nine confirmed new cases
of cholera have been reported in Musikavanhu district of Manicaland
province, bringing the total of new cases there to 21.

Musikavanhu Member of Parliament Prosper Mutsemayi said Health Ministry
officials confirmed the outbreak is cholera, having concluded earlier that
they were only diarrhea.

Communications Officer Tsitsi Singizi of the United Nations Children's Fund
or Unicef, said she could not provide independent confirmation of the
Manicaland cases, but added that another outbreak is inevitable because much
of the country still lacks clean water.

Minister: Zimbabwe health system is "out of intensive care"

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

Health News
Sep 25, 2009, 16:07 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwe's health system is out of intensive care but is still
wobbly on its feet, the country's health minister said Friday as he appealed
for 1.3 billion dollars in donor funding to rebuild the health system.

After a battle to stem cholera, a diarrhoeal disease that killed close to
5,000 people in Zimbabwe last year, the country's new coalition government
is now grappling with an outbreak of the A H1N1, or so-called swine flu
virus.

So far, 27 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in two provinces east of
the capital Harare, out of 631 suspected cases in total, health officials
announced Friday in Harare.

The health department also confirmed five new cases of cholera out of a
total 29 suspected cases, also in the east.

Confirming swine flu cases is slow because Zimbabwe's laboratories, having
suffered a decade of neglect under President Robert Mugabe's past
government, do not meet World Health Organization standards and samples have
to be sent to South Africa or Zambia for testing.

If we get a little bit of money, we have laboratories here which can do a
good job,' Health Minister Henry Madzorera told a press conference.

'The health system is no longer in ICU (intensive care unit) anymore. It is
now up and about,' he said.

n 'When we start giving free health (treatment) to the old, the HIV-positive
and pregnant women, then we know we are there,' he added.

Official Opening of Newlands Clinic

Zimbabwe HIV rate falls: government

http://www.iol.co.za

 

    September 25 2009 at 07:56AM

Zimbabwe reported new progress in its fight against Aids, saying its
HIV infection rate has declined to 13.7 percent of youths and adults, from
an estimated 14.1 percent in 2008.

Health minister Henry Madzorera said the rate was still too high,
calling for concerted efforts to push the rate down into single digits.

"We have to redouble our efforts and commitment and keep the sense of
hope that indeed one day we will get to the single digit prevalence,"
Madzorera said, according to the state-run NewZiana news agency.

The figure estimates the percentage of people aged 15 to 49 who have
HIV.

Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in the world to have recorded a
sharp decline in its HIV prevalence rate, down from a high of 33 percent in
1999.

The drop is attributed to government and donor-backed prevention
campaigns, but also to the nation's economic collapse, which has made it
more difficult for people to maintain multiple sexual partners.

The country is struggling to care for people with AIDS because of
severe shortages of anti-retroviral drugs. About 60 000 people receive the
drugs, only one-fifth of those who need them.

Madzorera said the government was exploring new strategies to fight
the pandemic, including male circumcision, which has been shown to reduce
infection rates among men.

Just over 1 000 men have been circumcised under a new campaign, he
said. - Sapa-AFP

Zim reports cholera and swine flu cases

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Saturday 26 September 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwean health authorities on Friday reported five cases of
cholera and 27 cases of influenza A H1N1 or swine flu in the southern
African nation where health facilities have collapsed after a decade of
economic recession.

Ministry of Health director of communicable diseases Portia Munangazira said
efforts were underway to combat diseases but conceded that the country still
lacked capacity to contain major outbreaks without outside help.

"In terms of fighting future outbreaks we are still not quite there yet but
we have started," Munangazira told a press briefing in Harare.

Addressing the same briefing, health minister Henry Madzorera said that out
of the 631 cases of swine flu that had been reported in the two provinces of
Manicaland and Mashonaland East, 27 had since been confirmed.

He said the five cases of cholera were from the 29 cases that had been
reported in Chipinge district in Manicaland several weeks ago.

Madzorera said Zimbabwe has to send samples to laboratories in neighbouring
countries such as Zambia and South Africa for A H1N1 testing because the
country's labs do not meet World Health Organisation standards.?

But Madzorera also said Zimbabwe's public health system, which before the
collapse of the last decade was one of the best in Africa, was on the way to
recovery.

He said: "The health system is no longer in ICU (intensive care unit)
anymore. It is now up and about. It has recovered and is recovering
everyday .. people are getting treatment and things are getting better."

Most of Zimbabwe's public hospitals began operating only seven months ago
after formation of a coalition government by President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.

The power-sharing government has promised to rebuild Zimbabwe's economy and
to restore basic services such as health and education that had virtually
collapsed after years of recession.

But the administration, which says it needs US$10 billion to revive the
economy, could fail to deliver on its promise unless it is able to unlock
financial support from Western governments that have remained reluctant to
provide aid until they see evidence that Mugabe is committed to genuinely
share power with Tsvangirai. - ZimOnline

Couple fled after Robert Mugabe's thugs arrived

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Leo and Bev Skea fled to New Zealand to make new lives for themselves in the
face of Mugabe's thugs.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Published: 5:51PM BST 25 Sep 2009

The couple were debt-free on their 1,600-acre farm, John O'Groat, having
bought in 1996 after the government said it had no interest in acquiring it
for land resettlement.

But when the couple returned from holiday in July 2002 they found their farm
overrun with "war veterans" loyal to Mr Mugabe.

It was two years since the land invasions had begun, and they quickly
decided their was no hope.

They emigrated to New Zealand two weeks later with only $2000 in their
pockets and three months to find jobs before their visas ran out.

"We were growing flowers, paprika, grass seed, maize, and had a
Brahman-Simmental cattle herd," said Mr Skea. "We had a general store,
abattoir and butchery and a large service station in Norton."

But they were young enough, in their late 30s, to go to the other side of
the world and begin again.

Other members of their family from the same farming district, whose land was
later taken into Mr Mugabe's growing estate in the Darwendale district, were
invaded a year earlier, had already paid off their workers and left for
Australia as the scale and violence of the land invasions peaked.

The Skeas were astonished to learn, after they left, that their profitable
protea section on their home farm had died.

"The irrigation pumps were flooded very soon after we left, despite them
digging holes into the main line they could not get the water to come out of
the pipe," said Mr Skea.

The Skeas are convinced they made the right move to quit Zimbabwe.

"We had a lot of fun, and made a bit of money in our last season, but we
love our life in New Zealand," Mr Skea said.

Mining firm wins Marange ruling

http://www.zimonline.co.za



      by Own correspondent Saturday 26 September 2009

HARARE - UK-based mining firm African Consolidated Resources Plc (ACR)
announced on Friday that the Zimbabwe High Court had confirmed the company's
right of title to claims on the Marange diamond field.

In a statement, the mining firm said: "Following the group's success in the
Zimbabwe High Court the group remains committed to dialogue with the
Zimbabwe government."

The government seized ACR's Marange diamond field in October 2006 and
allocated the claim to the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation.

The government moved into the controversial diamond field after thousands of
illegal miners descended on Marange, which ACR had held for some time but
apparently without any production.

A team from the Kimberley Process Certification System (KPCS) that visited
Zimbabwe last June called for a temporary ban on trade in diamonds from
Marange after unearthing gross human rights violations and other illegal
activities at the notorious diamond field allegedly committed by the army.

Zimbabwe's government deployed the army at Marange in 2008 to flush out
illegal miners and dealers from the diamond fields. But human rights groups
have accused soldiers of using brutal force to take control of the diamond
field and later forcing villagers to illegally mine the diamonds for resale
on the black market for precious minerals.

However Zimbabwe's army and police have refused to leave Marange while
Harare denies allegations of human rights abuses and says calls to ban
diamonds from the controversial diamond field were unjustified because
Zimbabwe was not involved in a war or armed conflict. - ZimOnline

Seven pardoned prisoners re-arrested

http://www.newsnet.co.zw

Posted: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:04:01 +0200
Seven of the 2 513 prisoners who were recently released under the
Presidential Amnesty programme are back in jail after they were re-arrested
for committing various offences ranging from armed robbery, theft and other
miscellaneous offences.

Seven of the 2 513 prisoners who were recently released under the
Presidential Amnesty programme are back in jail after they were re-arrested
for committing various offences ranging from armed robbery, theft and other
miscellaneous offences.

The re-arresting of the pardoned prisoner exposes the "old habits die hard"
element in them.

Zimbabwe Prison Services Public Relations Officer Ms Elizabeth Banda said
she learnt with surprise and shame the commission of offences by people whom
she believed had learnt and mustered how to blend well with their respective
communities.

Ms. Banda observed that of the seven men who were nabbed by the police some
of the offences they committed were a result of over-excitement and
drunkenness.

At the time of their release, the former prisoners were advised to approach
some specialised non-governmental organisations which were expected to offer
them advisory services in order for them to perfectly integrate into society
as well as embarking on meaningful income-generating projects.

China, Zimbabwe refresh old friendship: ambassador

http://news.xinhuanet.com



www.chinaview.cn  2009-09-25 09:39:40

    HARARE, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- China was ready to work with Zimbabwe
to further strengthen their friendly relations and cooperation to bring more
benefits to the two peoples, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Xin Shunkang
announced Thursday.

    At a reception celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of
the People's Republic of China, Xin said that he would do his best to
enhance the friendship between China and Zimbabwe.

    China and Zimbabwe enjoyed a profound friendship that went back a
long way. Their friendship was established by generations of leaders, he
said.

    In the 1960s, China strongly supported the Zimbabwean people in
their struggle for national liberation. In the past 29 years since the
independence of Zimbabwe and the establishment of diplomatic relations
between the two countries, their friendship had remained as vigorous as
ever, he added.

    China valued their long friendship and viewed Zimbabwe as a
trustworthy friend and important partner, Xin concluded.

    On the same occasion, Zimbabwe's Higher Education Minister Stan
Mudenge, who is also acting foreign minister, applauded China's development
during the last 60 years.

    He said Zimbabwe should emulate the example of china that had
dynamically transformed the lives of its people.

    "China has modernized from a semi-rural economy. Now it is one of
the biggest economies of the world, " Mudenge remarked.

    "We want to learn from that," he said. "We thought that through
those good examples of opening up to the world, of using the market
principle in the development of their economy, we can also find some
convergence with the international community and globalization."

One year on from Africa's worst ever cholera outbreak: Karel De Gucht visits humanitarian projects in Zimbabwe

Ian Smillie addresses human rights, diamonds and the Kimberley Process

From Rapaport News (US), 10 September

By Ian Smillie, Chair, Diamond Development Initiative

The following address was delivered by Ian Smillie of the Development
Diamond Initiative, during the Rapaport International Diamond Conference in
New York on September 10, 2009

Less than a month ago, the Chair of the Kimberley Process told an Agence
France Presse reporter in Angola that "The Kimberley Process is not a human
rights organization. That is what we have the United Nations for." Is this
true? I suggest that it is not. The issue of human rights and the diamond
industry is not new, and it cannot be divorced from the Kimberley Process
and the effort to halt conflict diamonds. It is worth reviewing the history
of conflict diamonds, because from the very beginning the Kimberley Process
was all about human rights. Let me go through some not-so-distant history.
The war in Angola, much of it fuelled by diamonds: half a million dead; The
wars in DRC, heavily fuelled by diamonds: 3.3 million dead if not more, from
direct and indirect causes; Liberia: Charles Taylor took control of his own
country's meager diamond resources and then fostered a proxy war in Sierra
Leone; Sierra Leone: a war characterized by banditry and horrific brutality,
waged primarily against civilians and fuelled almost entirely by diamonds.
75,000 people or more lost their lives. Rebel butchery left thousands of
women, men and children without hands and feet, disfigured physically and
psychologically for life.

No human rights issues here? The second paragraph of the KP preamble speaks
of 'the devastating impact of conflicts fuelled by the trade in conflict
diamonds on the peace, safety and security of people in affected countries
and the systematic and gross human rights violations that have been
perpetrated in such conflicts.' I start with this because it is important to
remember why the Kimberley Process was created. It was created first and
foremost to end the phenomenon of conflict diamonds, and to prevent it from
returning. Ending conflict diamonds meant ending the conflicts they fuelled
and the human rights horrors that were the sub-text of those conflicts.
Clearly it was all about human rights. That did not need to be spelled out
beyond the KP preamble, because nobody imagined at the time that some
governments, in pursuit of the internal controls required by the Kimberley
Process, would shoot their own citizens to death, and would beat, rape and
rob others. The Kimberley Process also aimed to protect the legitimate
interests of the diamond industry, and the millions of people who depend
upon it for a livelihood, most of them in very poor countries. And it
offered a hope: the hope that diamonds might in these war torn countries be
transformed from a negative to a positive, into something that might provide
revenue and jobs and hope.

The Kimberley Process has accomplished a lot. The very fact of the KP
negotiations helped choke diamond supplies to rebel movements in Angola and
Sierra Leone, and contributed to the end of hostilities. The KP has the best
diamond data base in the world. And the KPCS is credited by several
countries with the growth in legitimate diamond exports and thus of tax
revenue. The Kimberley Process is discussed as a model for other extractive
industries, and as a model of participation and communication between
governments, industry and civil society, all of which play an active and
meaningful role in its management. But there was no provision in the
Kimberley Process to do what all regulators must do. There was no provision
to plug holes, tighten loose bolts and fix the parts that were not working.
A fundamental part of law enforcement is the need to keep one step ahead of
the crooks as they figure out new ways around rules and regulations. But in
the Kimberley Process, there has, from the beginning, been a prohibition
against "opening the document". In practical terms, this means that while
some things can be changed, anything one or two participants don't like can
be blocked by a single veto and a chorus against reopening the document.
This is like saying that there can never be any additions to the Magna
Carta. We will live in the 13th century forever.

Problems

Despite these handicaps, for a while, there was optimism. Today, almost
seven years on, in my view, the Kimberley Process is failing badly, and
would not rate a four out of ten from any serious independent observer.
Accountability is the primary issue. There is no KP central authority.
Problems are shifted from one internal 'working group' to another; debates
on vital issues drag on for years. There is no voting in the Kimberley
Process. All decisions are reached by 'consensus', which in the real world
means 'general agreement'. But in the KP it means unanimity. Individual
countries can, and frequently do, hold up forward movement on anything and
everything. Nobody takes responsibility for action or inaction, failure or
success; and nobody is held responsible. The KPCS peer review mechanism,
which I helped to design, is a disaster. Some reviews are thorough and
recommendations are heeded. In many cases, however, recommendations are
ignored, and there is little or no follow-up.

Some reviews are completely bogus. In 2008, a bloated, nine-member team
visited Guinea, a country whose diamond industry is beset by corruption,
weak diamond controls, rotten statistics and almost certain smuggling. Over
the past two years, official Guinean diamond exports have increased by a
staggering 600%. The Kimberley team spent less than two hours outside the
capital city and its report remained unfinished for almost 11 months. This
is a parody of effective monitoring, and sadly, it is not the exception.
Angola has obvious human rights problems. Hundreds of thousands of illicit
Congolese diamond diggers have been expelled over the past three or four
years to the accompaniment of serious human rights abuse. Miners are beaten,
robbed, raped and force-marched hundreds of miles. The Kimberley Process has
had nothing to say about this because, 'it is not a human rights
organization.'

Zimbabwe, rife with smuggling and gross diamond-related human rights abuse,
has consumed months of ineffectual internal KP debate throughout 2009. Let
me dwell on this one for a moment, because it is indicative of so much. Late
in 2008, between 80 and 200 illicit diamond miners were killed by the
Zimbabwe armed forces. This was widely reported in the media and by
Zimbabwean human rights organizations. Partnership Africa Canada reported on
it in March this year, and Human Rights Watch issued a report in June. The
KP was finally shamed into sending a review mission. It found evidence of
serious non compliance with minimum KP standards, as well as dramatic human
rights abuse. The testimony of some victims was so poignant that the
Liberian team leader left one of the meetings in tears. The team's interim
report recommended, inter alia, suspension of Zimbabwe from the KPCS, but
the suspension recommendation was quickly denounced by the Kimberley Process
Chair who told reporters in Harare, before the team's report had even been
completed, that suspension would never happen. Under pressure, he has since
denied that he ever made the statement.

It is obvious that regional politics are at work, and that vetoes are being
lined up. Australian diplomats paid quiet visits to the governments of team
members recommending against any action that might damage the interests of a
diamond mining company with Australian connections in Zimbabwe. For these
governments and the others that are currently active behind the scenes,
business and politics trump human rights and the very purpose of the
Kimberley Process. They trump good management; they trump common sense and
decency; and they trump the long-term interest of the entire diamond
industry.

Other cases of flagrant non compliance have been ignored until they became
media scandals: fraud and corruption in Brazil; Ivoirian conflict diamonds
smuggled through neighboring countries. In two of Africa's largest diamond
producers - Angola and DRC - internal controls are so weak that nobody can
be certain where half of the diamonds really come from. Venezuela has a
record of shooting artisanal diamond miners, but this has never been
discussed in the Kimberley Process. In fact, elaborate measures were taken
in 2008 to allow Venezuela to remain a KP participant - despite its flagrant
non-compliance - on the understanding that it would suspend exports and
imports until it had regained control of its diamond industry. A study by
Partnership Africa Canada in May 2009, corroborated by a BBC team that
visited Venezuela in August, found that Venezuelan diamonds are still being
openly mined and openly smuggled. The KP continues, however, to accept the
official Venezuelan position. As a result, for more than four years, the KP
has implicitly sanctioned Venezuelan diamond smuggling.

The consequence of failure

The cost of a Kimberley Process collapse would be disastrous for an industry
that benefits so many countries, and for the millions of people in poor
countries who depend, directly and indirectly on it. A criminalized diamond
economy would undoubtedly re-emerge and conflict diamonds could soon follow.
The budget of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia this year is $561
million, over $200 million more than the budget of the entire Liberian
government. The UN Peacekeeping operations in Côte d'Ivoire and the DRC
have a combined budget of $1.8 billion between July 2009 and June 2010. The
UN spends billions on peacekeeping, but after seven years the KP cannot get
even close to proper diamond tracking in Angola and the DRC. The KPCS is too
important to fail, and it is too important to too many countries, companies
and people for make-believe. Its problems are not insurmountable. They can
be fixed. They can even be fixed without a major overhaul, but it will
require a degree of honesty, commitment and energy that has so far been
absent.

The solutions are straightforward: the Kimberley Process requires explicit
reference to human rights in the management of diamond resources. It
requires an independent, proactive and efficient body of expertise that can
analyze problems and act quickly to correct them, applying meaningful
sanctions where necessary. It needs an independent review mechanism. It
needs a conflict of interest policy that will recuse parties with commercial
or political interests. It needs a good dose of transparency. And it needs a
voting system instead of a vetoing system. Too much to ask? Some governments
may think so. The industry may think the ideal is not worth fighting very
hard for. But remember where we came from. Remember the death, destruction
and warfare that was fueled by diamonds. Remember how this industry - whose
product is held by so many as a symbol of love, fidelity and beauty - was
tarnished by smuggling, tax evasion, theft and sanctions busting. And
remember that we already have a global agreement that involves 78
governments, an agreement with a box full of tools that with some
fine-tuning are more than capable of dealing with the issues. Things can
change if governments and the industry really want to turn the Kimberley
Process from the talk shop it has become into the shining example of
responsible management that we thought it would be when we first began to
talk about it ten years ago.

CHRA objects to Council's proposal to borrow

25 September 2009

The Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) registers its objection to
the City of Harare's resolution to borrow US$150 000 to service the water
channeling and sewer reticulation pipes.  The decision to object to this
resolution is informed by the poor prioritization of service delivery issues
displayed by the City Council in the past. Recently the City Council has
spent over USD300 000 on purchasing 3 luxury vehicles for the Mayor and two
directors. CHRA reiterates that it is not the position of the Association
that the council must not buy vehicles for the Mayor and its workers.
However, the Association makes it categorically clear that it was
unnecessary and an act of extravagant expenditure for the council to buy
such expensive vehicles at a time when service delivery is at its lowest in
the city. The Mayor's car costed USD153 000 while the two Directors' cars
costed USD90 000 each. The Association is of the view that such money could
have been used to service the water and sewer pipes as well as procure water
treatment chemicals. CHRA would like to first be satisfied with how the
Council has used the revenue collected from the residents so far, before the
council decides to borrow from anywhere. CHRA has since written to the Mayor
expressing its objection to this resolution. The Association informs
residents and its members to submit their letters of objection addressed to
the Town Clerk. We however advise our members and residents to approach the
CHRA offices for assistance in this regard. CHRA has since developed a
standardized objection letter which residents and members can complete for
submission to the Town Clerk. CHRA remains steadfast in lobbying for
accountability and transparency in local governance.

A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com

25th September 2009

Dear Friends.

"Pass a law no whites are allowed to farm," said a white commercial farmer
this week, "Then it makes it clear." It's not hard to understand the white
farmer's bitterness, anyone with a white skin in Zimbabwe, farmer or not,
knows very well that the possibility of his or her being declared a
non-citizen at any time is never far away. Accurate population statistics
are a thing of the past in Zimbabwe but I can't believe there are more than
20-30.000 whites left inside the country but if Robert Mugabe and his Zanu
PF apologists are to be believed, this handful of people is responsible for
every evil under the sun.

Mugabe is at the UN this week, no doubt loving the opportunity to outdo all
his friends in their anti-imperialist rhetoric. It was Gadaffi's turn
earlier in the week and he ranted on for over an hour; Iran's man was also
there with his holocaust denial and claims that his recent hotly contested
election was all above board and today it will be Mugabe's turn. More of the
same, no doubt! How he loves these opportunities to rub shoulders with world
leaders and play the international statesman! As a foretaste, perhaps, of
what he will say today, Mugabe gave an interview to CNN's Christiane
Amanpour yesterday. She asked him some pretty direct questions but, as
usual, Mugabe was in total denial of the facts; he prefers his own version
of reality. When taxed with the vexed question of sanctions by Amanpour who
reminded him that sanctions were directed only at individuals within his
regime, he simply told her she was wrong. Sanctions had ruined the country's
economy and thus harmed the whole population, he claimed, while at the same
time stating that the country's economy was healthy! On the question of
land, Mugabe said, "The land reform is the best thing that could have
happened to an African country. It has to do with national sovereignty."
That old chestnut again! The problem is that Mugabe has never defined
exactly what he means by this catchall label. What it appears to mean is
that he can do exactly as he likes with 'his' Zimbabwe and 'foreigners' must
just keep out -except those with money to give, of course. And who are these
'foreigners'? Now we come to the nub of the matter, "Zimbabwe belongs to
Zimbabweans, pure and simple." he said, "White Zimbabweans, even those born
in the country with legal ownership of their land, have a debt to pay. They
occupied the land illegally. They seized the land from our people." And if
that wasn't clear enough, he went on, "They are British settlers - citizens
by colonization, seizing land from original people, the indigenous people of
the country."

When I read those words of his I was reminded of an incident that happened
when I was living in Murehwa. In one of the only racially motivated
incidents I experienced in my twelve years in Murehwa as the only white
person in an all-black town, a complete stranger stepped out into the road
as my vehicle passed, stuck his clenched fist in the air and shouted "Go
back to Britain!" 'How does he know I'm British?" I thought, I could be any
European nationality.' Then it struck me, what that complete stranger saw
was not my nationality but the colour of my skin. If my pigmentation was
white, then I was a foreigner, in the eyes of Mugabe and his followers and
apparently not a part of the 'national sovereignty' that he constantly
refers to.

So, like the white farmer quoted at the beginning of this Letter, I too
wonder why Mugabe doesn't come right out and say clearly that whites are not
and cannot ever be Zimbabweans? My five children were all born and brought
up in Zimbabwe but to Mugabe they are still 'settlers' who, in his words,
'have a debt to pay'. That nonsensical argument is used to justify the
hideous violence and injustice being meted out not only on white farmers but
also on black farm workers who are caught in the tsunami of land invasions
that rolls across the country. Are they not 'the indigenous people of the
country' to use Mugabe's definition of what it is to be a true Zimbabwean?
The truth is that anyone, black or white who stands in the way of the
bottomless greed and corruption displayed by Mugabe's followers and - dare I
say it - perhaps some newly powerful MDC followers too, is liable to be
beaten or killed and have his property destroyed or stolen. The police will
not lift a hand to defend them, they are too busy invading farms.

Week by week, we hear of the moral collapse that has engulfed Mugabe's
Zimbabwe. The lack of response from the population at large to actions that
would once be totally unacceptable in African culture is shocking. A
seventy-year old woman is stoned to death by Zanu PF youths for daring to
protest at the mini-murambatsvina being proposed by Harare City Council
against market traders; a man is beaten bloody for wearing a T shirt saying
'No to the Kariba draft' and forced to don a Zanu PF T shirt and at the
Chiadzwa diamond fields another young man is killed by soldiers anxious to
protect the 'blood diamonds' for greedy army generals. Zimbabwe seems to
have totally lost its moral compass. Even the churches remain strangely
silent about the abuse of basic human rights in the country. As for the MDC,
having 'sat down with the devil' they appear powerless to raise their
collective voice above a whisper to defend anyone from Mugabe's vindictive
spite against all his perceived enemies, be they black or white. We are all
'paying the debt' for our complicity in permitting thirty years of Zanu PF's
tyrannical rule.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.