Court sends Mukoko back to Chikurubi

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9305

December 30, 2008

By Raymond Maingire

HARARE - Harare magistrate, Mishrod Guvamombe on Monday declined to uphold a
High Court order that compelled police to release former broadcaster,
Jestina Mukoko, and eight others to seek medical treatment at the Avenues
clinic.

He remanded to December 31, all the 18 accused persons who appeared before
him facing different but related charges.

The defence had approached court to ask Guvamombe to endorse Justice Yunus
Omerjee's ruling last Wednesday, which ordered the immediate release of all
the 32 accused persons cited in the order.

Among the 32 were Mukoko and eight others who were to be taken to Harare's
Avenues clinic under police guard pending their appearance before Guvamombe
on December 29.

While in hospital, the accused persons were to be accorded full access to
their legal practitioners and routine visits by their relatives. They allege
they were tortured by state security agents who apparently held them during
nearly eight weeks of secret detention.

The state refused to release the accused persons claiming it had filed a
notice of appeal to challenge Justice Omerjee's ruling.

After listening to submissions by both the state and the defence, Guvamombe
ordered that the accused persons be taken back to remand prison where they
were initially taken on Christmas day in violation of the HIGH Court order.

Guvamombe further ruled that the accused persons be detained in Chikurubi
Remand Prison and be allowed to be attended to by their doctors.

The state fiercely resisted that the accused persons be released to the
Avenues Clinic, insisting they could still be attended to by prison doctors
who are equally qualified.

On the other hand, the defence challenged the state to disclose what
prejudice it stood to suffer if the accused persons were released to a
hospital of their choice as directed in the High Court order.

"It does not make sense that you appeal against an order that one has to be
taken to hospital, especially where torture has been alleged," lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa argued before the court.

The lengthy court session on Monday was meant to hear five cases allegedly
committed by 18 accused persons who had benefited from the order by Omerjee.

Mukoko, who is Zimbabwe Peace Project director and her workmate, Broderick
Takawira are charged with "recruiting or attempting to recruit persons for
banditry purposes".

Seven others are supposed to answer charges relating to "bombing police
stations and committing banditry".

The accused persons all appeared in Monday's court hearing on leg irons and
dressed in green prison garb. The session dragged on from 3pm to 7pm.

Two others are charged with defeating the course of justice.

All the accused persons were abducted from their homes and workplaces in
Harare, Banket and Chinhoyi by state operatives using unmarked vehicles
going back almost two months ago.

Their whereabouts remained a mystery until Monday last week when police
apparently took custody of them from state security agents.

During their disappearance, the police denied any knowledge of their
whereabouts prompting their lawyers to seek a High Court ruling to compel
them to investigate their whereabouts.

The defence seeks the unconditional release of the accused persons.

This they base on a November ruling by Justice Charles Hungwe who ruled that
their continued detention by whosoever was unlawful.

Hungwe said their detention had exceeded the statutory 48 hours beyond which
it is unlawful for the police to continue to hold an accused person without
bringing him to court.

In his ruling, Hungwe ordered the police to proceed by way of summons if
they so wished to file charges against the accused persons.

Mtetwa, one of the lawyers representing the accused persons, expressed
disappointment at the ruling by Guvamombe.

"The magistrate is obviously too frightened to confirm what the High Court
had said," she told reporters after the court adjourned.

"It's only in Zimbabwe that an inferior court can seek to really implement a
High Court order differently. The High Court made an order which was
deliberately subverted by the state."

Fears over likely increase in abductions

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9301

December 29, 2008

By Mxolisi Ncube

Johannesburg - President Robert Mugabe's government has intensified its
terror campaign against dissenting voices, amid reports that more torture
teams comprising state security agents have been established in the country's
major cities.

There are renewed fears that the ongoing abductions of Movement for
Democratic Change and human rights activists might worsen over the next few
weeks.

More than 20 people, including officials from the MDC party, journalists and
civil society leaders are still detained at various police stations in
Harare, after they were seized either from their offices or from their homes
in an underground crackdown which began about six weeks ago. Sources
familiar with the exercise say it has been code-named "Operation Chimumumu".

Those arrested are being charged with training bandits in neighbouring
Botswana, in an alleged bid to overthrow Mugabe.

The state-orchestrated operation is said to have been instigated by Mugabe
in a bid to force the mainstream MDC party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, to
blindly join his Zanu-PF party in a government of national unity.

Despite the political rivals having signed a power-sharing agreement to lay
the ground work for the much-vaunted government of national unity more than
three months ago, Zanu-PF and the two MDCs have failed to implement the
all-inclusive government, following their failure to agree on an equitable
sharing of key ministerial posts.

The MDC, which defeated both Mugabe and his Zanu-PF in the March 29
elections, is currently refusing to join the unity government while accusing
the octogenarian President of holding on to key ministries, in a bid to
relegate the MDC to an irrelevant partner in the new political order.

The now largely unpopular Mugabe who, according to political analysts,
desperately needs the unity government in order to gain legitimacy, has
thus, resorted to the abductions and murder of political opponents in an
apparent bid to force the MDC to back down from its hard-line stance and
demand for crucial ministries such as Home Affairs.

Internal police sources told The Zimbabwe Times Monday that more teams
comprising members of Mugabe's dreaded spy agency and main torture machine -
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), officers from the army and
members of the police's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Law and
Order and the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI), first set up in
all police districts in the capital city of Harare, have now been spread to
other major cities.

According to a Bulawayo-based member of the police Law and Order section,
the teams comprise mainly senior police officers who were members of the
torture teams that were used during a previous terror campaign that rocked
Zimbabwe soon after the defeat of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party in the March
29 polls.

"Most of the members of the teams are those that were used during the
Presidential election run-off campaign and they use the same vehicles. They
have names of people that they are working on, who include vocal members of
the opposition and leaders of some pressure groups, which they are to keep
under surveillance and arrest if they believe that they are trying to incite
people to rebel against the government," said the senior police officer.

He added that the provincial teams, which are set to be expanded into
district teams, beginning next month, were established outside Harare on
December 1.

Although the police officer did not have the names that appear on the list
in order of priority, he revealed that there were more than 58 names on the
list of targets. He said the targeted people had been divided into three
categories; those requiring strict surveillance; targets who should be
arrested and charged, while the third category comprised those who should be
abducted and tortured, or even killed.

"While most of the names on the list have been targeted for a very long
time, there have been some new additions," said police officer.

"All the teams are being led by Provincial Operations Officers, who are also
in charge of the PISI, and maintain these names in their headquarters at
operations rooms. Every morning they meet to report on the activities of the
individuals that are high on that list, while also checking on those that
lie lower on the lists".

Those activists that are accused of trying to incite the public into "trying
to overthrow" Mugabe are, according to the police officers, arrested and
taken through a screening process.

If they are found to be "dangerous", they are then sent to the CIO for
torture and possible execution, according to the sources.

The MDC, which also confirmed hearing about both the operation and the list,
accused Mugabe of trying to try and force it join his government, but vowed
that this would not work.

"We have always known that because we are refusing to fall for the carrot -
joining the unity government under Mugabe's terms, the stick was going to
follow," said party spokesman, Nelson Chamisa. "All these abductions and
past accusations of training bandits by the MDC are meant to build some
trumped-up charges that will hopefully force us into giving up on our
demands. But they will not work. We are not joining until all our demands
are met."

No comment could be obtained from the Zimbabwean government.

Back in April highly placed sources in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces revealed
to the Zimbabwe Times details of the deployment of a total of 200 senior
serving officers to participate in an exercise to drum up support for
President Robert Mugabe ahead of the presidential run-off election in June.

The teams were deployed on April 8 and, with the exception of two, were all
senior serving officers of the armed services.

Weekly Situation Report on Cholera in Zimbabwe No. 08, 29 Dec 2008

 Full_Report (pdf* format - 342.7 Kbytes)

Cholera Situation update

- Chinese and Tanzanian governments donate

- USAID pledges towards cholera fight

- Cholera Command Control Centre update

- Health cluster weekly meeting

- Health and WASH agree on roles and responsibilities

- WHO response team during festive holidays

SITUATION UPDATE AND HEALTH ASSESSMENT

The countrywide cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe currently affecting all of the country's 10 provinces and at least 57 of the 84 rural and urban districts has, as of December 26, caused 1557 deaths with 28492 suspected cases . The case fatality rate (CFR) is 5.5%. The largest number of cases were in Harare (9718 cases and 330 deaths - CFR 3.4%), followed by Beitbridge (3665 cases and 108 deaths - CFR 2.9%), Makonde (2222 cases and 68 deaths - CFR 3.1%) and Chegutu Urban (1767 cases and 139 deaths - CFR 7.9 %.)

For more information, see http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?alias=ochaonline.un.org/zimbabwe

Following reports of a fresh outbreak in Mt Darwin District in Mashonaland Central Province a Rapid Response Team comprising of WHO epidemiologists and environmental health officer , was dispatched on 27/12/08 to make a rapid assessment the cholera epidemic, identify gaps and needs, as well as providing technical support to the health teams in Mazowe District. They found out that Mount Darwin was no longer a serious threat, but Mazowe District. It was suggested that the assessment be done in Mazowe instead of Mt Darwin. All the 8 districts in the province are currently affected by the cholera outbreaks which started in October, 2008.

DONATIONS AND PLEDGES TOWARDS CHOLERA FIGHT

The Chinese government donated US$500 000 in cash to the Zimbabwe government to fight the cholera epidemic.

The consignment of medical supplies (Doxixycline, Methylated spirit, Ringer, ORS, Infusion Sets, Ciprofloxacin,Erythromycin, Zinc Oxide, Sodium Chloride, Scalp veins, Canular 18g, Latex gloves) worth US$ 60 000 donated by Tanzania to Zimbabwe to help its fight against cholera arrived in Harare

USAID has pledged US$6,2 million to WASH -related activities in Zimbabwe's cholera response.

Shipment from WHO Geneva, HQ/HAC - Ringer lactate, 10.000 litres + 10.000 Infusion sets

Cartoon

Zimbabwe doomed to another failed harvest

http://www.independent.co.uk

The land is fertile, the rain is falling, but the agricultural system has
been destroyed by Robert Mugabe

By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent, in Mashonaland
Tuesday, 30 December 2008

The road west from Harare leads through some of the most fertile land in
southern Africa. The December rains are watering the plains and anything
planted now should bear a bountiful harvest.

But nothing is being planted. There are no tractors making their way through
what should be a sea of winter wheat seedlings.

These fields that once fed an entire region of Africa no longer feed even
the country itself.

Through no act of God, Zimbabwe's new year harvest has already failed. The
commercial farmers are gone and in their place wasted children scavenge by
the roadside for kernels of corn that fall from passing trucks and can be
picked out from the asphalt.

The United Nations has found that more than two-thirds of Zimbabweans are
living on one meal, or less, per day.

The starvation that has been stalking the country for much of this decade
now claims victims every day; the prospect of an unprecedented famine looms
next year.

Estimates of those in need of emergency food aid have been revised up from
four million to 5.5 million in the past month. Child malnutrition has shot
up by two-thirds in some areas of the country in the past year, according to
Save the Children.

Zimbabwe's food comes, when it does come, by road: either emergency
shipments of maize meal from the UN's World Food Programme or family
remittances packed with loving care into the overloaded minibuses, which
make up the lifeline to South Africa.

Brian (not his real name), formerly a senior official in Zimbabwe's
Commercial Farmers' Union, estimates that only 5 per cent of the food
production that peaked in the early 1980s, during Robert Mugabe's honeymoon
with the white farmers, now remains.

The sophisticated agricultural sector that formed the backbone of the
economy has been "stripped for parts", the irrigation systems destroyed,
machinery and storehouses dismantled, he adds. Even if power were to change
hands today, farming would take "more than five years" to recover.

Agriculture needs "inputs", he says, and it needs that at the right time.
But the planning and know-how have been systematically dismantled. "This
will be by far the worst harvest," Brian says. This sector was the one that
Mr Mugabe, when he was a guerrilla leader, was famously warned by
Mozambique's President Samora Machel not to destroy, otherwise "you will
face ruin".

He heeded that advice, until it was expedient after 2000 to cash in the
commercial farms to shore up his political base. The farms, almost all
white-owned, were seized and after much anti-colonial posturing the lion's
share of them was handed out to his cronies for them to treat as their
playgrounds.

Since then farmland and food have been used as weapons to starve Mr Mugabe's
enemies and enrich his allies. The country is in ruins, but the ruling
clique is still in power.

A power-sharing deal that was signed under intense outside pressure in
September has been revealed as a political feint. No meaningful authority
has been offered to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change despite
their parliamentary majority. As the year draws to a close there is
stalemate and starvation. "The tragedy of this country is that he is
insensitive to the plight of our people," says Nelson Chamisa, the spokesman
for the MDC. "All this is happening for the sake of one man, and an old man
at that."

Delivery of vital supplies of seeds, fuel and fertiliser from international
donors was conditional on the formation of a unity government. The
government faces a year-end deadline from Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC's
leader, to release at least 42 abducted opposition activists or he will walk
away from power-sharing talks. There is no sign of movement. Instead several
of the abductees have been paraded through the courts and accused of
plotting a coup.

"This is a dictatorship, a place where people's rights are forfeit and where
people even have to forfeit their lives," Mr Chamisa says. "Next year will
again be a year of hunger. Again we are reliant on outside help and if we
have a government at war with the international community then that goodwill
cannot be relied upon."

There are already signs that international donors are reluctant to commit
funds without a change of political leadership. Save the Children warned
this week that there is already a shortfall of 18,000 tonnes of food aid for
January.

When talking about the corruption that has consumed the country since
independence, Zimbabweans often fall back on the proverb that explains the
endless greed of the regime: "You never finish eating the meat of an
elephant". But there are increasing signs that this elephant's bones were
picked clean in 2008. Each sector, from mining to manufacturing and flower
farming, has been looted completely. With a cholera epidemic raging, the
economy by default now using the dollar, analysts believe Zimbabwe may be
hitting the bottom.

Outside Chitungwiza, nearly 20 miles from the capital, Patience is typical
of the women working at what now passes for farming here.

She hoes the young elephant grass by the roadside, ignoring the stench of
raw sewage that trickles along a ditch from the township. "I have no seeds,"
she says, so she plants sweet potatoes. This is not even subsistence farming
as her ragged patch will not feed her three children for any length of time,
and she may not survive to harvest it.

Patience is already exceptional in that she is 35. The life expectancy for
women here is 33, the lowest in the world, and down from 57 at independence
in 1980. Her skin is flaking, her ankles swollen and her face is drawn and
hollow: all clear signs of malnutrition. Last week, she waited for days at a
school for international food handouts that never came.

So she is left to hoe the banks of a sewage ditch. "I have to do something,"
she explains.

Some names in this piece have been changed to protect identities

Setting of withdrawal limits futile: analysts

http://www.chronicle.co.zw

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Business Reporter

Just 10 days after the $10 billion withdrawal limit came into effect, the
amount has become meaningless.
Some people are now wondering whether it is worth it for the central bank to
regularly increase withdrawal limits in line with inflation after seeing the
situation revert to square one within days of the limits being raised.
Economic analysts feel the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr Gideon
Gono, was fighting a losing battle as long as the issue of inflation was not
addressed. Since last month, the RBZ has revised upwards withdrawal limits
but within a short space of time the new limits were made irrelevant as
prices of almost all basics went up.
In November, Dr Gono increased the daily withdrawal limit from $50 000 to
$500 000. On 5 December, the limit was upped to $100 million a week as part
of efforts to reduce queues at banking institutions.
Dr Gono was hailed by many when he announced that with effect from 19
December, people with pay slips could withdraw up to $10 billion a month
while they could withdraw their entire salaries from 12 January.
New higher denomination notes were also introduced.
However, most people have discovered that the $10 billion monthly withdrawal
limit cannot take them far.
Prices of basics galloped even before the new withdrawal limit came into
effect early this month.
Whereas a week before, $10 billion could buy about 500 rand on the parallel
market, at the beginning of this week it was equivalent to 10 rand.
A loaf of bread costs about $7 billion while commuter fares are now pegged
at $5 billion a trip. This means the $10 billion, meant to cover workers for
one month, can only buy one loaf of bread or take one to town for two trips.
Economic analysts said while efforts by the central bank to increase
withdrawal limits were commendable, they would not work in the
hyper-inflationary environment in Zimbabwe.
They said any new limits introduced by the central bank would soon be
rendered irrelevant by inflation.
The solution lay in stabilising the economy.
"A long-lasting solution to the cash crisis is located in the stabilisation
of the economy through reducing inflation and the re-establishment of
positive real interest rates. Given that the amount of money held for
transactions and precautionary purposes depends, among others, on the
movement in prices, the current hyper-inflation environment will soon render
new and higher cash withdrawal limits inadequate," said an economic analysts
with a leading stock broking firm.
The analyst said the central bank should as a stop-gap measure fully
dollarise the economy while working on measures to relaunch a new-look
currency.
He noted that the economy has already been partially dollarised as some
shops are now allowed to sell products in foreign currency.
The RBZ introduced the Foreign Currency Licensed Warehouses and Retail Shop
facility which allowed selected businesses to sell some goods in foreign
currency.

Foliwars shops prove popular with shoppers

http://www.chronicle.co.zw

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

By Ray Ndlovu

BUSINESS was brisk for shops licensed to sell in foreign currency over the
festive season as scores of shoppers thronged them for Christmas groceries.
A snap survey by Business Chronicle revealed that queues were the order of
the day at most of the shops.
Unscrupulous vendors outside one supermarket were charging shoppers 10 rand
for a place at the head of the long winding queue.
Foodstuffs such as a 10 kg bag of mealie- meal were being sold for 60 rand,
while a 2-litre bottle of cooking oil was priced at 37 rand.
The introduction of the foreign exchange shops by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Governor, Dr Gideon Gono in September this year has resulted in
basic commodities and luxury goods being readily available in most shops.
The significant challenge that has risen is that businesses that are not
allowed to charge in foreign currency have gone on to do so, thereby further
narrowing further the number of shops where transactions in the local
currency can be made.
Numerous calls have been made by stakeholders and the business community for
the National Incomes and Pricing Commission to act.
Although management at Green Acres could not readily comment on the turnover
accumulated over the Christmas period, a worker said: "We are busy, very
busy and our things are moving fast."
Despite the brisk business and availability of basic commodities at most
licensed shops, shoppers have not been deterred from travelling to
neighbouring countries to make bulk grocery purchases.
The prices of goods are lower in neighbouring countries as most local shops
defied central bank directive to put a mark up of 30 percent, with some
charging as much as three times prices in South Africa or Botswana.

High alert ordered to contain Cholera

http://www.sowetan.co.za/

30 December 2008
Mary Papayya

Purify water, warns state radio

Health authorities in KwaZulu-Natal have placed all hospitals on high alert
in areas at risk of cholera. Public service announcements are being run on
state radio, calling on communities to be aware of the disease's symptoms
and to purify their drinking water.

A victim, believed to be a Zimbabwean national, has died at Durban's
Addington Hospital after contracting the disease.

An Ethiopian national is recovering from the highly contagious disease at a
hospital in Mahlabithini.

Nine people have died in South Africa, eight in Limpopo, since the disease
swept across the border with the tide of people fleeing Zimbabwe. More than
1000 people have reportedly died from the cholera in Zimbabwe and many
thousands are infected. Another 28 cases have been reported in Limpopo.

About 1600 cases have been reported in South Africa since mid- November.

Chris Maxon of Kwazulu-Natal's health department said yesterday that no new
cholera cases had been reported in the province since the two foreign
nationals took ill, but hospitals have been "ordered to treat all
diarrhoea-related cases with urgency".

The province has tested more than 20 people showing symptoms of the disease.

"The tests performed on all the patients thought to have been cholera
sufferers have come back negative," Maxon said. "But our hospitals in
Zululand, Msinga in the Midlands, Port Shepstone on the South Coast and
hospitals on the North Coast are on high alert to step up efforts to prevent
the spread of cholera.

"We have a number of confirmed cases of cholera that can be traced to
Zimbabwe and others not related to the Zimbabwe strain."

Cholera usually emerges in cycles of seven to 10 years.
KwaZulu-Natal suffered a devastating cholera outbreak in 2000 and 2001. It
is a water-borne bacterial disease that causes vomiting and acute diarrhoea
and can rapidly lead to death from dehydration if not treated.

Appeasing Mugabe has not worked

http://www.miamiherald.com
Posted on Tuesday, 12.30.08

OUR OPINION: Direct intervention is necessary to save Zimbabwe

The Bush administration wisely reversed course last week in its support of a
power-sharing arrangement in Zimbabwe, which has rapidly deteriorated into a
place of violence, hunger, disease, chaos and misery under the autocratic
rule of President Robert Mugabe.

The hope had been that Mr. Mugabe's tendency to abuse his authority and
brutalize the populace could be assuaged somewhat if he shared power with
his chief political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who, by many accounts, won the
presidential election in March.

Economy in ruins

Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs,
succinctly summed up the reason for the change. Mr. Mugabe has ''lost it,''
she said, adding that he is ''out of touch with reality.'' He surely is.

A legendary leader who has ruled Zimbabwe since it won independence from
Britain in 1980, Mr. Mugabe at 84 years old has devolved into a sinister
force who is slowly destroying the country. Zimbabwe, which once prided
itself on being Africa's breadbasket, can no longer feed itself. Today, its
economy is in ruins. Dissenters, human-rights activists, political opponents
and ordinary citizens are routinely beaten and jailed without cause or
charge.

Now a cholera epidemic is racing across the country and beyond. The disease,
which is spread by fecal-tainted water, is emblematic of, and a direct
consequence of, Mr. Mugabe's failures.

To all this, South Africa and neighboring countries do little more than
cling to the futile hope that the man Mr. Mugabe once was will resurface.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is sinking fast. The international community can no
longer expect a different outcome without its direct intervention.

Britain joined the United States last week in withdrawing its support for
the power-sharing deal, but South Africa and the neighboring 15-nation
regional bloc did not. That is unfortunate. Those countries are in the best
position to pressure Mr. Mugabe to change course. However, their misguided
loyalty to a desperate and despotic ruler must not deter the United States
and the international community from continuing to send food, medicine,
financial aid and other emergency supplies to relief groups in Zimbabwe.

Stability for nation

The international community also must step up efforts to get South Africa
and neighboring countries to stop coddling Mr. Mugabe. Since the election,
Mr. Mugabe has shown nothing but contempt for the people of Zimbabwe, for
neighboring countries and for the international community. Withdrawing the
offer for a power-sharing deal should set the stage for a different approach
designed to remove Mr. Mugabe from a position he has not fairly earned, and
get Zimbabwe back on track to economic growth and political stability.