MSNBC
Exiled Zimbabwean farmer appeals for help
LONDON, Jan. 21 —
Guy Watson-Smith was forced at gunpoint from his farm,
driven with his family
into exile and threatened with death if he returns to
Zimbabwe.
The lean,
tanned 51-year-old white Zimbabwean came to London to spread the
word about
the personal and economic catastrophe engulfing the former
Rhodesia and seek
moral if not material help from its old masters -- the
British
government.
''It has all been taken from me. If I go home they will
kill me,'' he
told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
Armed thugs
broke into the central Harare offices of law firm Gill,
Godlonton and Gerrans
two weeks ago in what was taken to be a bid to abduct
Watson-Smith's lawyer
Raymond Borreto.
The death threats against Zambian-born Watson-Smith,
who has lived in
Zimbabwe for half a century, cannot be dismissed.
Nine white farmers and 100 black opposition supporters have been
killed, with
thousands of others injured or forced to flee in a two-year
land grab by
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government which claims to be
belatedly
correcting colonial wrongs.
From a profitable farm and a future,
Watson-Smith, his wife Vicky and
teenage children Adam and Alice have little
more than the clothes they stand
up in and have been forced into exile and to
depend mainly on their
relatives in Cape Town and London.
Their
1,200-hectare tobacco farm 100 km (60 miles) south of Harare
has been seized
by the government and anything that moves is being sold,
despite a court
order last month declaring that the moveable assets belonged
to Watson-Smith
and must be given back.
''I have been forced to give up my Zimbabwe
citizenship and have
applied for South African nationality because my father
was born there,''
Watson-Smith said.
''We now have to look
seriously at the possibility of not being able
to go back to Zimbabwe --
certainly not under the current government,'' he
said.
FOOD RUNNING
SHORT
The farm and its assets have been independently valued at
eight
million pounds, but Watson-Smith gloomily says that while he will sue
for
every cent he is unlikely to ever see any of it and with scant savings
time
and money are running short.
''The options are few and far
between,'' he said.
His story is being echoed across the country as
Mugabe -- seeking to
extend his 22 years in power at elections in March --
has vowed to grab two
thirds of the 12 million hectares of land owned by the
4,500 mostly white
commercial farmers.
Government supporters,
supposed veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s war of
independence, have occupied at
least 1,700 farms and more are being invaded
every week despite a promise by
Mugabe in September to rein in the process.
Hundreds of farmers have
been forced to flee to the towns or into
exile -- mainly in Britain -- with
many others effectively under house
arrest and prevented from working their
land.
The result has seen inflation surge to 112 percent and
unemployment
to 60 percent while the black market value of the Zimbabwean
dollar has
dropped in two years to 350 to the U.S. dollar, from 60.
The government has made it illegal for farmers to hold stocks of
grain,
meaning that both human and animal food is scarce, with supermarket
shelves
frequently bare of milk, eggs, chickens and beef.
The international
community has tried in vain to bring Mugabe to
heel, threatening he and his
inner circle with personal sanctions such as
freezing their foreign bank
accounts.
''They hear what they want to do. Meanwhile Mugabe does
exactly what
he wants to. No price is too high for him. He will stop at
nothing. He will
never relinquish his grip on power,'' Watson-Smith
said.
Daily News
MDC activist tied to tree overnight
1/21/02 9:10:54 AM
(GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
TAWANDA Spicer was on Thursday night
kidnapped by a group of unknown people
suspected to be war veterans and spent
the whole night tied to a tree in
Murewa.
Edwina and Newton Spicer,
his parents, said they were worried when their
17-year-old son did not return
home.
"As the anxiety was getting worse we received a call that someone
had been
seen in Murewa near Chief Mangwende's homestead tied to a tree,"
said
Edwina. "We are not really aware what led to his abduction, but it might
be
because he is an MDC activist, but I would not want to
speculate."
She said a moment later they received a call that their son
had been
released by the "hostile group" and was in the custody of Marondera
police.
Police in Marondera confirmed the arrest of Tawanda, but could
not give
details saying they were still compiling a report of what led to his
arrest.
When contacted for comment later in the afternoon, Newton said he
was in
Marondera and had hired a lawyer so that Tawanda could be
released.
Edwina Spicer has produced two major films on political
developments in
Zimbabwe, Dancing Out of Tune and Never the Same
Again.
Daily News - Feature
Chiefs now mere pawns in Zimbabwe's political
minefield
1/21/02 8:27:18 AM (GMT +2)
By Ray Matikinye
Features Editor
THE number of times traditional chiefs have influenced
official government
policy can be counted on the fingers of one
hand.
On the rare occasions that chiefs have ever displayed such clout,
it has
been to give Zanu PF political mileage.
Only twice in
post-independent Zimbabwe have traditional chiefs succeeded in
swaying
government to look at other alternatives.
First, it was when traditional
chiefs in Makonde influenced President Mugabe
to postpone a crucial
by-election in Kariba constituency, following the fall
from grace of former
finance and defence minister, Enos Nkala, a victim of
the Willowgate
scandal.
And when the candidate backed by the chiefs won the by-election,
it was a
triumph of great significance for them.
The victory brought
nostalgic memories of the power and influence chiefs,
headmen and village
heads wielded before government disempowered them.
The essence of their
power had been the right to allocate land in rural
areas.
Most chiefs
viewed Mugabe's acceptance of the Makonde chiefs' appeal as a
first step in
regaining the influence they wielded over their communities
before
1980.
Chiefs mistook the Kariba incident as an opportunity to haggle for
the
restoration of their former powers, diluted under the Customary Law
and
Primary Courts Act of 1981. They were in for a rude shock.
The
then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Emmerson
Mnangagwa
bowled the skittles over for the chiefs when he declared at a
workshop in
Gwanda that their right to allocate land had been transferred to
elected
district councils. The chiefs felt defrocked.
The second time a
traditional chief made a proposal that government approved
was when Chief
Kayisa Ndiweni suggested a grain loan scheme for starving
villagers, to
replace a government programme which had been terminated due
to rampant abuse
by undeserving State officials.
When government belatedly accepted the
plan, it did not credit Chief Ndiweni
with the idea. Instead, it seized the
opportunity to embellish the State's
routine obligation to provide largesse
in times of need as philanthropy
which had to be reciprocated by squeezing
Zanu PF support from the peasants.
Unwittingly, the chiefs have been
gradually drawn into the political fray by
the State. They have become agents
of coercion for Zanu PF, contrary to
their much-vaunted role as custodians of
national culture and traditional
values.
The State went further to
award traditional leaders hefty monthly allowances
of $10 000 each - more
than the minimum wage of an average worker – to
retain their
support.
Headmen were awarded half that amount, with village heads now
drawing
"allowances" from State coffers.
In return, the traditional
leaders have shepherded their subjects to polling
stations where chiefs'
hirelings keep a register of voters as they arrive.
"We cannot vote at
Mutikizizi School nearby, because our headman lives near
Bangure School, 15km
away," said 70-year-old Mbuya Nhorodo during the Bikita
West by-election last
year. "We have to make sure we appear on the chief's
register of those who
voted or face the consequences."
Illiterate villagers are terrorised into
believing the State has the means
to detect those that have voted for
opposition parties.
Few chiefs doubt the government's intention to make
them an appendage of the
ruling party.
Through the amended Electoral
Act, the chiefs have been given enormous
powers to collude and disenfranchise
peasants in resettlement areas.
The size of the communities' village
heads lead is small enough to determine
their subjects' political party
preferences.
"We are now looking into establishing traditional leadership
structures in
resettled areas," the Minister of Local Government, National
Housing and
Public Works, Ignatius Chombo said recently.
Despite being
upstaged by so-called war veterans who usurped their power to
allocate land
in the messy land reform programme, chiefs still hope they can
recoup lost
authority and self-esteem by remaining loyal to the idea of
being proteges of
the ruling party.
Chiefs have an unenviable record of colluding with the
State.
Successive colonial administrations, particularly that of Ian
Smith,
connived with them and the leaders proved an ideal medium of
propaganda to
discredit the nationalist struggle for independence.
As
aptly put by former parliamentarian Lot Senda during Chief
Mpini's
installation: "It is agonising to recall that in the past, colonial
rulers
used the chiefs as tools of oppression. By being used, chiefs turned
into
enemies of their own people and failed to play their role as
traditional
leaders in their communities."
Smith pampered chiefs into
believing that accepting sham independence under
a "bantustan-type"
alternative government, they would wield more power as
free
agents.
Similarly, Zanu PF party has used the chiefs.
During a
recruitment drive under the guise of a party membership data
collection
exercise before the June election, Zanu PF solicited the chiefs'
support. "We
want every village head to make a head count of his subjects,
ensure each has
a completed data form which is submitted to the chief," said
Vice-President
Joseph Msika then.
The exercise flopped when peasants failed to raise the
dollar registration
fee demanded due to pressing hardships.
It remains
to be seen whether chiefs will opt to abrogate their traditional
role of
interceding with the ancestors on behalf of their subjects for
more
involvement in mainstream politics.
But judging from Chief
Jonathan Mangwende's assertion in Parliament last
year that the land reform
programme had failed to de-congest the rural
areas, despite impressive but
doubtful figures churned out by the State
media, chiefs, headmen and village
heads appear to be destined, in the
immediate future, for a dubious role as
Zanu PF's recruiting agents.
Masvingo/Beitbridge area continues to battle with corrupt officials
To : Chairman,
Provincial Land Committee
LAND
REFORM – A MATTER OF TRUST
With respect I would like to suggest that both you and I are guilty of
the destruction of a lot more trees than we would realise! This is all the
paper that goes backwards and forwards between our offices, which appears at
this stage to just be wasted. This includes all the hot air during our very
interesting discussions we have from time to time.
But seriously is it not about time we began to
implement some of the decisions we have come to?
There have been a number of “open and shut” simple
cases where all parties have agreed, yet it has gone absolutely no further.
This reminds me of my discussions with Provincial War Veteran leaders – who pose
the same question. “We have the answers from all the agreements made with
Government, but what is getting in the way of their implementation?”
In my last letter dated 9th January 2002, I
pointed out that because various agreements had not been implemented that this
was causing a lot of questions of the sincerity of the Government in their
negotiations and discussions. Despite lengthy discussions with you on the 3rd
January, and your promise to present my paper of the 30th December
2001 to the next Provincial Land Committee meeting, nothing further has been
heard, or resolved.
As examples of matter which have been unresolved is
the case of Wentzelhof Ranch, which despite the proposed delisting has now been
served with a Section 7 notice and Government affidavit for confirmation of
acquisition in the Administrative Court. Pray tell me why should the owners be
made to pay lawyers fees for a property, which has supposedly been delisted.
Where is the trust?
For the umpteenth time we continue to discuss the
unresolved situation on the officially gazetted delisted Chidza Farm. What this
saga tells us is that even if a man does co-operate and shed off land to
Government, he is still not left with his single farm. This co-operation has
reduced his (and National) livestock holdings by ten times what he used to run.
I can assure you that this is nothing to boast about when trying to sell land reform
to the nation.
I leave you with these two unresolved issues, but you
know the rest, and I hope that in the interests of National food security that
they will be attended to before it is too late.
With the discussions we have recently held I was
beginning to believe that at last there was a bit of common sense beginning to
prevail, and that we were making some very important steps forward in resolving
the agrarian reform more amicably. To my horror and dismay I see a political
campaign which has resorted to the old and outdated Maoist tactics.
Whilst nobody has anything against the formation of responsible
trade union bodies, who look after the welfare of their members, there is a
huge difference when those bodies are merely being used as a political tactic.
On a recent visit to the lowveld the politicians made it abundantly clear that
in this province that farmers must come as individuals to discuss the status of
their farms and future. On no account would their elected leaders or lawyers be
entertained.
With respect I then ask the question to you as a
respected and impartial civil servant, “is this why the above mentioned matters
have yet to be resolved?”
With even further respect I again wish to point out
that dialogue is essentially necessary for the sake of food security and the
future of our Nation and its people.
We also need to respect the way forward as the Abuja
Accord and the ZJRI have suggested it, and on this you have our full
co-operation and enthusiasm. I hope to meet with you some time this week – as
long as we are both not on the road again, at the same time!
Just in case we miss each other again this week, I
respectfully ask that the forced starvation of cattle in the Gutu/Chatsworth
area be hastily resolved. There is absolutely no hope of any agreement with the
committee of 7 on any of those farms. In many cases they do not even live there
and are uncontactable!
The cattle are unwilling victims and there is no
reason why these animals should be made to suffer, just because we humans
disagree!
Daily News - Leader Page
Anything to frighten Mugabe must be
tried
1/21/02 8:28:51 AM (GMT +2)
SOUTH Africa may never
apply sanctions against President Mugabe, for their
own political and
economic reasons.
But the fact remains that if Thabo Mbeki said
today that unless Mugabe
abandoned his Stalinist methods of hanging on to
power, then South Africa
would cut off fuel and power supplies to Zimbabwe,
Mugabe would have to
listen.
He might use a lot of bluster and threats
to intimidate Mbeki - as he has
obviously done in the recent past - but in
the end he would know that the
jig was up, that Mbeki had called his
bluff.
This is more or less the same strategy that the European Union
(EU), the
Commonwealth, the United Kingdom and the United States are using to
force
Mugabe to step back from the brink of plunging this country down the
abyss
of total ruin.
Most of them would prefer not to take such a
precipitous step against a
country basically brimming with great economic and
political potential. What
has frustrated them, as it has frustrated
Zimbabweans not misty-eyed about
Zanu PF's brutal rule, is Mugabe's
stubbornness.
His party will not risk losing power by offering the
electorate and the
opposition a level playing field in the 9-10 March
presidential election.
They are introducing "fast-track" legislation to
impede the opposition from
winning the election.
They are trying to
end the effectiveness of the independent media in giving
the people what is
basically "the other side" of the electoral coin,
offering the voters a
chance to study the options before finally casting
their
ballot.
Morgan Tsvangirai is not the only Zimbabwean who believes firmly
that South
Africa could tilt the balance in favour of pluralism in Zimbabwe
if their
government put maximum economic pressure on Mugabe to give real
democracy a
chance.
Mbeki's brother, Moeletsi, and other people close
to the South African
president, have spoken publicly of how effective
economic measure against
the Mugabe government would be in persuading him to
alter his Stalinist
stance.
The administration of George W Bush
supported the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act for the same
reason: that it would dissuade Mugabe
from pursuing his path to political
perdition.
Both the EU and the Commonwealth are not motivated by racism
in their
threats to punish Mugabe and his close lieutenants for denying his
people a
chance to exercise their freedom to choose their own
leader.
For some Zimbabweans, the racism bogey is the easiest to
swallow.
Independence was won against a white supremacist regime,
supported by a
British government which from the beginning pronounced itself
against using
force against a rebel government on the grounds of a "kith and
kin"
relationship.
It's easy enough for some to believe that the West
is against Mugabe only
because of the land issue, which he has almost
succeeded in portraying as a
strictly "black-white" set-to.
The truth
is that Mugabe and his party are targeting black Zimbabweans for
murder, rape
and other violence because they know it is their own kith and
kin who want
him and his autocratic regime to step aside, to give them a
decent chance to
try and remove them from power through the ballot box.
The truth is that
it is Mugabe's own kith and kin who have borne the brunt
of his economic and
political policies. They are the worst victims of
joblessness, caused by the
absence of new foreign and local investment.
The people whose health his
government's health delivery system has
endangered are his own kith and kin,
not foreigners or the kith and kin of
the West.
These Zimbabweans are
intelligent enough to know when they have been dealt a
raw deal by their own
kith and kin.
They don't need foreigners to tell them why there is no
food on the table
for their children.
Officer Commanding (Masvingo Province),
Zimbabwe Republic Police,
INHUMANE
TREATMENT OF CATTLE IN GUTU/CHATSWORTH
Firstly welcome back from your well earned leave and
hope you catch your cell phone thief!
In this early stages of our run up to the Presidential
Election I have been encouraged by the apparent clamp down on political thugs,
and must thank you and your staff for satisfactorily resolving the life
threatening situation on Shallock Park this week.
Whilst we appear to be on a road of better
consultation over the land issue I must express my absolute concern for the
other unwilling victims which are continually being seriously abused as a tool
in the intimidation process. The Gutu/Chatsworth district is predominantly a
cattle-producing area, which falls within the Catchment Zone, which qualifies
for export to the EU. Our producers here represent some of the best in the
country in this long-term industry. Their cattle are something for Zimbabwe to
be proud of, as they are with the best of the best.
With this in mind it has sickened me to witness the
state of these cattle’s’ poor condition especially when one sees the good
grazing, which is being denied to them. In this desperate game of political
survival these lovely cattle are being forced into confined grazing areas on
farms. The cattle are being starved, and in some cases brutally murdered or
maimed by political thugs. The political thugs are pushing cattle herds too and
fro and calves are being separated from their mothers, also to die of
starvation.
The political thugs are coming with ultimatums and
deadlines for cattle and owners to be moved off their legitimate farms. In the
middle of this are the cattle that are being prevented from using their paddocks
because single settlers have planted a tiny unprotected plot of stunted maize
in the middle of the lush grazing. Cattle are being forced off farms and caring
neighbours who are prejudicing their own survival by overgrazing their paddocks
and thus starving their own cattle have accommodated some.
We also had a case in Triangle, last week where
beautiful breeding cows were forced into a crush, which resulted in the
inhumane deaths of some 8 cows when they were trampled to death.
With regard to farmers being given ultimatums and
threats to evacuate their properties by certain dates, I am sure you are well
aware that this is unlawful (even under the present distortions!). And that
only a competent court has the authority to issue a 90-day eviction notice, after
the case has been heard and the proper procedures have been followed.
There are obviously some distorted views or opinions
which have been created by the issuing of Statutory Instrument 338, of 2001,
but I trust that you will be able to clarify these issues with your staff, in
order to avoid unnecessary confrontations. Our legal advisors interpretation of
SI 338 is that if a farmer is required to stop farming this should be issued in
the form of a letter from the Acquiring Authority. Nobody has received one. The
instrument does also not constitute an eviction order, which can only be issued
by a competent court.
In compliance with Section 7 of SI 338 all farmers
receiving Section 8s have applied to the Minister for permission to continue
farming.
There is also the question of a reported order which
was recently sent out from PGHQ whereby Police in some Provinces have been
ordering owners of “designated” farms to surrender their firearms to the
Police. Whilst I can assure you that the farmers are definitely not “at war”
with anybody, I respectfully wish to advise that I have advised my members to
retain their personal licensed firearms until such time as the issue has been
satisfactorily clarified.
The relevant Court Order in which there is a written
valid reason or explanation also needs to be submitted with the order to
surrender registered personal firearms. I am sure you will agree with me?
Besides the only type of weapons, which are licensed, are for either hunting,
safaris and personal and payroll protection. We most certainly do not have any
weapons of war!
I also wish to bring to your attention the continued
unwarranted bullying and provocation against Jannie Erasmus of Bath Farm. Here
is a man who stood up for his rights as a Zimbabwean citizen when the
Commonwealth Team and Government officials visited his farm late last year. You
may remember that Honourable Minister S. Mudenge publicly promised him that
there would be no retribution for his outspokenness, as you were personally
there.
This has been far from the case and since then he and
all the other farmer who were present on that day have been subjected to
continuous provocation, intimidation, threats and harassment. Various officials
have admitted that this was a result of their outspokenness at the meeting. I
beg for your investigation into this rather sensitive matter.
There does appear to be some problems at your Gutu and
Chatsworth Police Stations in their interpretation of the law and separation of
politics from the law. I respectfully appeal to you to intervene in the area
and allow cattle access to decent grazing whilst this political furore is
quietly resolved.
What have the cattle done to deserve such inhumane
treatment and starvation?
Daily News - Leader Page
Africa's defence of Mugabe's opportunism over
land matches its tragic
tolerance of Idi Amin's excesses
1/21/02
8:30:27 AM (GMT +2)
By Tajudeen Abdul Raheem
MY entire
secondary school years and first year as a university
undergraduate coincided
with the rise, rise and the thumping fall of Field
Marshal Idi Amin as the
Life President, Conqueror of the British Empire,
life former Chairman of the
Organisation of African Unity and now temporal
refugee in Saudi
Arabia.
Thanks to a South African-published magazine in those
pre-Internet and
pre-email days, Drum, that kept us (even children in a
school in a remote
place like Funtua in north Central Nigeria) abreast of the
life and amusing
times of the buffoon known as "Big Daddy of Twenty
Children", Idi Amin Dada!
When Idi Amin expelled the Asians, we were
joyous believing he was returning
Africa to Africans.
All his antics
against European residents of Uganda at that time were to us
a demonstration
of his Pan-Africanist commitments, "the strong African
leader" ready to
"teach the Europeans a lesson" that Africa and Africans
should not be taken
for granted anymore.
The icing on the cake was when Amin got Europeans to
carry him on a hammock
and forced the then British Foreign Secretary and
later Prime Minister, Jim
Callaghan, to kneel down for him by a clever ploy
of receiving him in a hut
constructed for the occasion!
These were
powerful Pan-Africanist symbolisms.
Black people and Africans are so used to
the indignities of white people
lording it over them whether through slavery
or colonialism that it became a
welcome reversal of roles to see "one of us"
humiliating them.
Every contrary report about Amin was treated as
"imperialist",
"anti-African" Bazungu (white) propaganda.
Arriving at
the university in 1978 and getting into contact with a number of
Ugandan
victims of Amin such as Professor Barongo, Professor Arthur Gakwandi
and
Okello Oculi did little to change our views of Amin as a leader "dealing
with
white people".
All evidence of Amin's atrocities against fellow black
Africans was
dismissed as propaganda or exaggeration.
When films,
documentaries or media reports about Amin's regime came out,
many Africans
found them dubious and chose not to believe them.
Even more than two
decades after Amin's exit some people still do not
believe that he did most
of the things reported at the time.
Films may have been produced for
dramatic effect, but the substance of many
of the events were true and there
are many Ugandans who can testify to them
today.
The situation in
Zimbabwe today bears similarities, in the defensive
approach of many Africans
to it, to the Amin experience.
President Mugabe's deliberate choice of
land reform as an emotive issue to
prolong his rule and obliterate his
political opponents has put many
Africans in a great dilemma: To oppose him
is to oppose African nationalism
and the popular Pan-Africanist demand of
"Africa for the Africans" or the
socialist "Land to the tillers".
A
Zimbabwean comrade of mine who is not sympathetic to Mugabe in any
way
expressed this dilemma to me when he wrote to me stating: "I do not care
how
Mugabe goes about it, but we want our land back."
Many Zimbabweans
and Africans and even more of our people in the diaspora
share this
view.
We should care about the means as much as the goals.
It is a
very wrong view and extremely dangerous. It means the end justifies
the
means.
Revolutionary it may sound, but it is a blank cheque for
dictatorship and
wholesale endorsement of Mugabe.
The current targets
may be white Zimbabweans, but who are the majority of
the people who have
died in the past two years?
There are so many Africans in the diaspora
who are so fundamentalist about
the land issue even though most of them will
never return to Africa after we
reclaim these lands.
They enjoy their
European and American citizenship while demanding that
Africa must be kept
pure of all other races.
Even when they travel to the "homeland" they
come with their non-African
passports sometimes as guests of governments that
are oppressing fellow
Africans.
I do understand their reaction based
upon their experience of racism and
exclusion in Europe and America, but I do
not accept their collaboration
with leaders and governments that are
inflicting pain and destruction on
their peoples.
It cannot be true
that everybody who is opposing Mugabe today is a traitor,
agent of settlers,
a front for British neo-colonialism or enemy of
African
liberation.
Mugabe and Zanu PF have held absolute power in
that country since
independence in 1980, therefore cannot continue to blame
history for their
failures and misgovernment.
And if they do that
history must include the last 22 years that they have
been in
power.
Mugabe should not be judged only on his stance against whites,
even if that
one too is purely opportunistic, but on his record as an
absolute ruler for
more than two decades.
Whites are not his only
victims.
Indeed, he did worse against the people of Matabeleland and the
Midlands in
the 1980s until he forced PF Zapu into a one-party
state.
It is so sad that a leader who started so promisingly and so loved
has now
become the problem for his own people and not part of the solution
anymore.
At 77, who is he fooling about another liberation war?
He
may look fit physically, but is he mentally and emotionally up to
it?
Africans must be consistent in calling a spade a spade no matter who
the
joke is on.
Melbourne Age
Contingency plans in place for Australians in
Zimbabwe
CANBERRA, Jan 21 AAP|Published: Monday January 21, 4:50
PM
Contingency plans were in place to evacuate Australians from
Zimbabwe amid
fears the African nation's looming presidential election may
erupt into
violence, the government said today.
A spokesman for
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there were around 900
Australians
currently living and working in Zimbabwe, with most having
already registered
with the high commission amid spiralling unrest.
He said the government
had requested information from the British government
on its plans to
evacuate 25,000 Britons to safety should the situation in
Zimbabwe continue
to deteriorate.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's most
current travel advice
recommends only that Australians exercise caution about
their personal
security in the lead-up to the elections on March 9 and
10.
"There is increasing political tension and lawlessness in both rural
and
urban areas of Zimbabwe," the notice warns.
"Travellers are
advised that a number of commercial farms in rural areas of
Zimbabwe have
been occupied by squatters, in some cases accompanied by
intimidation,
violence and killings."
Adding to that are fears President Robert Mugabe
may not give up power
without a bloody struggle which could result in civil
war.
Mr Downer's spokesman said the government had put contingency plans
in place
if violence erupted, which could include the evacuation of
Australian
citizens.
"We have comprehensive plans in place for the
management of various
contingencies that may possibly occur in Zimbabwe," he
told AAP.
"Obviously, the welfare and safety of Australians overseas,
both Australian
residents in Zimbabwe and Australian visitors to Zimbabwe is
our highest
priority."
He refused to outline what plans were in place
and whether Australian's
could be airlifted alongside Britons.
South
Africa has agreed to throw open its border with Zimbabwe to refugees
should
the situation descend into anarchy.
By Rob Taylor
Business Day
MDC paints a gloomy scene for
Zimbabwe
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Police,
Zanu (PF) youths disrupt rally
Political Editor
MORGAN Tsvangirai,
leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), paints
a gloomy picture of the outcome for his country if the
ruling Zanu (PF) party
rigs the March presidential election, as is widely
feared, or if the military
carries out its threats to refuse to support a
new president.
While
the opposition leader was visiting SA, at least 18 people were injured
in
Bulawayo when police and a mob of Zanu (PF) youths broke up an
opposition
rally yesterday. Residential areas around White City stadium were
saturated
with tear gas as hundreds of riot police drove MDC supporters away,
MDC
secretarygeneral Welshman Ncube said.
MDC supporters and police
staged running battles near the stadium during the
day. Police sealed off the
townships of Tumula, Telandaba and Magwegwe.
Interviewed in Johannesburg
at the weekend, Tsvangirai said the possibility
of the elections being rigged
or the military refusing to support a new
president could not be ruled out,
given the ruling party's unpopularity.
"If one takes into account the
recent spate of repressive laws and the
general negative public sentiment
towards the ruling party, it would seem
Zanu (PF) is running out of
legitimate ways to perpetuate its misrule.
"The party itself acknowledged
this recently when it sent the top brass of
the military to give some bizarre
advance notice of a coup d'etat when they
lose," Tsvangirai said, referring
to a statement by the head of Zimbabwe's
armed forces that a new president
who did not fight in the liberation war
would not have the support of the
military.
"It is true that if the MDC wins there will be tensions that we
will have to
deal with given the extent of problems we will inherit such as
those
pertaining to land. But this will be nothing compared to the anarchy if
Zanu
(PF) steals the vote which seems the only option still open to the
party."
Tsvangirai said communication between his party and the SA
government
continue to improve.
"I understand the difficult position
that the ANC and the SA government are
in. All I want to say is that this is
no longer the same liberation party
they knew," he said. With
Sapa
Telegraph
18 hurt as Zimbabwe rally is cancelled
By Peta Thornycroft
in Harare
(Filed: 21/01/2002)
ZIMBABWE'S Movement for Democratic
Change was forced yesterday to cancel its
first presidential election rally
in Bulawayo after police tear-gassed and
baton-charged
supporters.
About 18 people were reported to have been injured by police
and ruling
Zanu-PF supporters hours before a rally was due to start.
Witnesses said the
city was ringed with police from early morning and that
ruling party
supporters attacked MDC members gathered at a
stadium.
Eddie Cross, an MDC economic adviser, asked: "How on earth can
we run a
political campaign if we can't even hold a rally?
"This had
the hall-marks of a co-ordinated effort by police and Zanu PF to
prevent us
from getting to the stadium."
He said that unless international observers
arrived soon there was no chance
of the MDC staging a campaign for its
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to end
President Mugabe's 22-year rule in
March.
News24
Journalists fight muzzle bill
Cris Chinaka
Harare -
Zimbabwean journalists vowed on Saturday to launch a series of
protests from
Tuesday over a controversial media bill they say will severely
undermine
press freedom.
At the end of a five-hour meeting attended by journalists
from across the
southern African country, four media workers' bodies resolved
to petition
parliament to throw out the bill, which it is due to debate on
Tuesday.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party holds 93 of the
150 seats in
the chamber. The government temporarily withdrew the media bill
last
Wednesday to include some "reasonable" amendments.
Under the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, all
journalists and
owners of media organisations would be required to register
with a
government-appointed body or risk two years in prison.
The same penalty
would apply to breaches of a code of conduct that outlaws
reports sowing
"alarm and despondency".
The legislation would also ban foreign
journalists from working in the
country.
The United States, the
European Union and numerous media groups have blasted
the proposed law,
saying it is another step by Mugabe to tighten his grip on
power ahead of
presidential elections on March 9-10.
The legislation was expected to
come up in talks Mugabe is to hold in Harare
on Sunday with Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Zimbabwean state media said the two men
would discuss Zimbabwe's
controversial land reform programme.
Mugabe
committed himself in Nigeria last year to a peaceful solution to the
land
problem. On Friday, however, the country's Commercial Farmers Union,
voicing
the fears of 4 500 mainly white farmers whose properties have been
seized by
militants loyal to Mugabe, said its members were still being
singled out for
attacks.
Colonial-era imbalances
The Zimbabwean government says
redistribution of commercial farmland to
members of the black majority is
needed to redress imbalances from colonial
times.
The journalists'
groups said on Saturday that, besides lobbying legislators
to reject the
media bill, they would also organise demonstrations against
the
government.
"This is one of the most draconian pieces of legislation one
can ever see,"
Independent Journalists' Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ)
president Abel
Mutsikani told the meeting.
"No such bad law has been
formulated anywhere else in the world in recent
years, not even in Mullah
Omar's Afghanistan," he added.
Masvingo/Beitbridge area continues to battle with corrupt officials
RE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR, BEIT BRIDGE
I think we have discussed this matter verbally on several other
occasions, but I take this opportunity to give a basic outline of the
complaints. Although the affected farms fall in the Beit Bridge area, the owners
are members of the Mwenezi Farmers’ Association, Masvingo Region.
Although there are well-documented records of events available,
which were carried out on the various farms, south of the Bubi River, the DA is
reported to have been extremely careful not to leave any form of documented
evidence. Hard evidence would only come from witnesses who are brave enough to
volunteer information, or evidence. However this does not exclude many other
forms of evidence, which do exist which would corroborate many of the
unprofessional actions he is being accused of.
The main accusation is that although the DA is described as
being friendly and amicable in public, there appears to be a more sinister side
to him where he is accused of dominating all other Government Department heads
and Police. In short his apparent political side (or connections) is reported to
dominate all decisions made within the district. This domination has also
reported to go as far as disrespect and public rebuke of leading national
political figures. He is being accused of completely disregarding national
policies and legitimate Court Orders.
He is also accused of encouraging illegal movements of cattle
to and from commercial farms and conservancies thus increasing the threat of the
spread of the recent Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in that district. Further
he has been accused of interfering with legal game movements and interference
with Police criminal prosecutions. It has also been alleged that he has sent his
thugs onto a number of farms to humiliate the owners and to settle his private
vendettas against them. Farmers have been provoked and humiliated when they have
been called to the Land Committee meetings in Beit Bridge, where nothing has
ever been resolved satisfactorily.
Melbourne Age
Give peace a chance, Obasanjo tells
Zimbabweans
HARARE, Jan 21 AFP|Published: Monday January 21, 7:10
PM
Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo has told Zimbabweans to give peace
a
chance and called for tolerance after meeting President Robert Mugabe
and
the main opposition leader, state radio reported today.
Obasanjo,
who brokered the so-called Abuja agreement on land reform between
Zimbabwe
and former colonial power Britain last year, held talks with Mugabe
early
today and said progress on the agreement was slow, the radio said.
Under
the agreement, Britain has committed itself to funding land reform in
return
for an end to political violence and the illegal invasion of
white-owned
farms by land occupiers.
Obasanjo who arrived yesterday was expected to
discuss the political
situation in the country ahead of presidential
elections in Zimbabwe due
March 9-10. He met with Morgan Tsvangirai, the
leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the radio
said.
The meeting between the two leaders came amid deepening political
violence
between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF)
and the MDC.
Yesterday, pro-Mugabe militants forcibly
stopped the MDC from holding a
rally in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest
city.
MDC officials said at least 18 of their supporters were beaten and
flogged
by the militants, with another seven unaccounted for.
Police
fired teargas to break up the rally and then sealed off three
populous
townships and staged running battles with the MDC backers
throughout the
day.
Daily News
Mob storms Harare law firm
1/21/02 9:07:14 AM (GMT
+2)
By Conrad Nyamutata Chief Reporter
ABOUT 100 people, who
described themselves as war veterans, but also claimed
to be farm employees,
last week stormed the offices of a firm of Harare
lawyers representing a
Mashonaland East farmer, who has fled the country
fearing for his
life.
A spokesperson for Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans, the law firm, said
the mob
manhandled and assaulted six lawyers among them Raymond Barreto, 39,
and a
senior partner at the law firm.
After the violent and chaotic
35-minute invasion they left, threatening to
return. The unruly crowd was
chanting and it was difficult to reason with
them.
Guy Watson-Smith,
who farmed in the Beatrice area until he was ordered to
leave under threats
of further violence, has already paid salaries to
workers.
It is
believed that the same mob had earlier visited the Law Society of
Zimbabwe
offices to press for their intervention.
Barreto said: "The leaders of
the group did not introduce or identify
themselves. They just made unclear
demands for money they claimed was due to
them. They were not prepared to
listen, to reason or dialogue with us."
Watson-Smith obtained a court
order on 28 December last year against retired
General Solomon Mujuru, two
cabinet ministers and a war veteran leader,
known as Comrade Zhou for the
return of equipment and property from his
farm, from which Zhou and Mujuru
had evicted him. Gill, Godlonton and
Gerrans are representing
Watson-Smith.
The riot squad were summoned during the invasion but had
not arrived by the
time the mob departed.
Police details attended the
scene, reports were made and assurances given
that the riot squad would be on
hand should the mob return.
Speaking from South Africa, where he fled
before making a successful
application to the High Court, Watson-Smith
expressed his dismay at the
actions of the mob and further voiced concern and
empathy for his previous
employees.
He said he believes the
demonstration was orchestrated in order to
intimidate, and to preclude the
removal of his property from the farm.
"It is a move by the 'chefs' to
deflect the blame for the delay and the
blatant attempt to derail the High
Court order, onto paid stooges
masquerading as farm labourers, who cannot
easily be identified or sued,"
said Watson-Smith. "In fact, information that
has come to my attention is
that staff have already received December
salaries from the new management."
Daily News
Zanu PF youths assault, torture Zengeza
resident
1/21/02 9:13:51 AM (GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
WILLIUS Murozonga, 27, of Chitungwiza became one of the latest
victims of
Zanu PF hooliganism being perpetrated by youths and war veterans
when he was
severely beaten up and tortured last week.
Murozonga said
he was coming from a beerhall in St Mary's, heading towards
his home in
Zengeza 3 when he was stopped by the Zanu PF hooligans.
He said they
asked him which party he belonged to and were angry when he
said he was not
affiliated to any political party.
The men, about 10 in number, started
beating him up with clenched fists and
kicking him all over the
body.
"They said they could not believe me and they started beating me,"
said
Murozonga."I was then dragged from this point to a house in Zengeza 4
where
I was searched for any MDC material."
Murozonga said the men did
not find any indication that he belonged to the
MDC but they proceeded to dip
his hands into boiling water.
"I tried to pull away but I couldn't because
the men were holding me down,"
said Murozonga. "I screamed but it was
useless. I just watched as my hands
were being burnt."
Murozonga
sustained bruises on both hands. He said he was released
around
4am.
Murozonga said he reported his case to the police but he
was chased away.
"The police were not cooperative at all," Murozonga
said. "I walked to a
nearby police station and I was told to go away and
solve my own problems."
A police official at St Mary's police station
yesterday said the police were
not aware of the incident. The police promised
to investigate.
Daily News
Zanu PF steps up violent campaign
1/21/02 9:25:26 AM
(GMT +2)
By Chris Gande in Bulawayo, Lloyd Mudiwa in Harare and
Reuter
TWENTY people were injured and thousands tear-gassed after the
police and
Zanu PF militants intruded to stop a rally by the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) in Bulawayo yesterday.
In Harare's Epworth
suburb, suspected Zanu PF youths went on a rampage on
Saturday night,
attacking the home of an MDC official.
Professor Welshman Ncube, the
secretary-general of the MDC, said Zanu PF
militants occupied White City
Stadium in Bulawayo and beat up opposition
supporters to stop the rally,
while the police tear-gassed those waiting
outside.
"The police moved
in as between 8 000 and 10 000 of our people were waiting
outside the stadium
to get in for the rally," Ncube told Reuters.
"They chased them and threw
teargas. "Some of our people have been assaulted
and tortured by members of
the militia in the stadium." The police said they
did not target MDC
supporters.
"The police moved in to stop violence between supporters of
two parties," a
police spokesman said. "The police threw teargas to disperse
the crowd to
avoid any further trouble."
There were running battles in
Bulawayo's Pelandaba suburb as the police
tried to disperse MDC supporters
from the stadium where hundreds of Zanu PF
members had camped overnight to
prevent the opposition party's campaign
rally.
As a result of the
skirmishes and assaults by the Zanu PF supporters, bussed
into the city to
disrupt the rally on Saturday night, seven MDC members
are
missing.
Ncube said the fate of the seven, feared abducted,
remained unknown by late
yesterday afternoon. Gibson Sibanda, the MDC's
vice-president, had been
scheduled to address the rally.
Andrew
Ndlovu, the war veterans' secretary for projects, who was in Bulawayo
over
the weekend, denied Zanu PF supporters instigated the violence, which
rocked
the city.
He claimed the clashes were as a result of in fighting in the
MDC.
Ndlovu said: "This is an internal issue following their leader's
utterances
about South African sanctions on Zimbabwe."
The violence
came just hours before a visit by Nigerian President Olusegun
Obasango, who
arrived in Zimbabwe late yesterday for talks with President
Mugabe over his
pledge to end violent seizures of commercial farms.
Mugabe faces his
toughest electoral challenge ever from MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Analysts say Zanu PF has stepped up a violent drive against the
MDC and the
seizure of white-owned farms in a campaign to win Mugabe the
presidential
election scheduled for 9 and 10 March.
This is the first major political
disturbance in Bulawayo in the run-up to
the poll.
The only other time
that the city's culture of non-violence was briefly
shattered was last
November when Zanu PF supporters, bussed in from Harare,
and MDC supporters
clashed following the death of Bulawayo war veterans'
leader Cain
Nkala.
Authorities at Mpilo Central Hospital said they attended to about
20 people.
One of them had a serious head injury and was admitted into
the intensive
care unit.
"We still expect more patients because we
hear that there are still
disturbances in Pelandaba," a senior hospital
official said.
Galen House, a city medical centre, also attended to an
unspecified number
of people assaulted by the Zanu PF
supporters.
Pelandaba suburb yesterday resembled a battlefield with main
roads leading
into the township barricaded by rocks and tree
branches.
Ncube said the MDC booked the stadium last Monday and the
police had
promised to provide security.
When MDC youths went to the
stadium on Saturday to put up tents for the
rally they, however, found a
group of about 200 Zanu PF supporters. The
ruling party youths attacked some
of the MDC youths, he said.
Yesterday dozens of MDC supporters, unaware
that the stadium had been taken
over, unwittingly went into the
stadium.
They found themselves confronted by the Zanu PF supporters,
armed with
sticks, knobkerries and sjamboks (whips made of animal
skin).
Most of the MDC supporters were assaulted but managed to escape,
leaving
seven unaccounted for.
Hundreds of MDC supporters gathered
outside the stadium as their leaders
tried to negotiate with the police to
remove the Zanu PF youths.
Ncube said: "The police initially agreed to
remove the Zanu PF people from
the stadium and called
reinforcements.
"We were later surprised when they told us that they had
received
instructions from their superiors to disperse MDC supporters. It was
then
that police started firing teargas to disperse the crowd," he
said.
Nearly 1 000 riot police formed a human shield around White City
Stadium to
prevent the MDC supporters from getting in, while a larger number
engaged in
pitched battles with the incensed youths in Pelandaba
suburb.
"So much for a free election when it is clear that Zanu PF is not
allowing
us to freely campaign," said Ncube. "All the lies that President
Mugabe told
the Southern African Development Community leaders are coming out
into the
open."
In Harare, suspected Zanu PF supporters attacked the
home of Peter Sigauke,
the MDC's chairman for Epworth district, on Saturday
night extensively
damaging property, including party campaign materials,
worth thousands of
dollars.
Sigauke yesterday said a combination of
war veterans, Zanu PF supporters and
the youth brigade forced Epworth
residents to help attack his house, number
6E58 in Domboramwari.
He
was at work at the time.
Sigauke said his wife, Prisca, and their
children were at home when the
100-strong mob pounced, damaging his vehicle,
clothes, solar panels,
furniture and other household
appliances.
Ironically, the member-in-charge of Domboramwari police base
had visited
Sigauke's house earlier and asked Prisca to tell Sigauke to
report at the
base "so as to fix problems bedevilling the
suburb".
Daily News
Zanu PF violence won't stop MDC poll victory, says
Biti
1/21/02 9:09:31 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
TENDAI
Biti, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary for lands
and shadow
minister for foreign affairs, has said the current onslaught by
Zanu PF
militia and police will not stop his party from winning the
forthcoming
presidential election scheduled for 9 and 10 March.
Morgan Tsvangirai,
the MDC president, is seen triumphing over President
Mugabe in the
poll.
Biti was addressing MDC supporters at Ballantyne Park Shopping
Centre, in
his Harare East constituency on Saturday.
He said: "We want
to send the message to Mugabe that he is now history and
that violence won't
stop the MDC from winning the presidential poll."
Biti told his
supporters that violence had hardened the people of Zimbabwe
and they were no
longer afraid of the beatings which he said continued
unabated.
"They
cannot kill us seven times because we are dead already," Biti said.
"We
have entered a home stretch and Morgan Tsvangirai has been visible in
the
rounds undertaken so far, but Mugabe has not been visible."
He said the
threats by Mugabe and refusal to allow independent observers
from the
European Union and the Commonwealth member countries, would not
deter the
electorate from effecting change.
Biti said despite Mugabe insisting on
having monitors and observers of his
own choice, the MDC was going to
participate in the election.
He told the gathering: "The playing field,
even or uneven, the MDC will take
part in this election and we are making it
clear that there won't be any
government of national unity.
"The MDC
will not unite with murderers, killers and thieves. Mugabe has no
title deeds
of Zimbabwe, this is time for change."
Earlier, Job Sikhala, MP for St
Mary's (MDC), had told the same gathering
that if Mugabe rigs the election,
the masses would not take it lying down.
He said: "If Mugabe rigs the
election, people will rise and reclaim the
country. Mugabe should know that
the game is up and his fate has already
been decided, come March 9 and
10."
Sikhala said the electorate had resolved to free the country from
Mugabe and
his cronies whom he said had plundered resources in the country,
driving its
economy into the ground.
Daily News - Feature
Chiefs now mere pawns in Zimbabwe's political
minefield
1/21/02 8:27:18 AM (GMT +2)
By Ray Matikinye
Features Editor
THE number of times traditional chiefs have influenced
official government
policy can be counted on the fingers of one
hand.
On the rare occasions that chiefs have ever displayed such clout,
it has
been to give Zanu PF political mileage.
Only twice in
post-independent Zimbabwe have traditional chiefs succeeded in
swaying
government to look at other alternatives.
First, it was when traditional
chiefs in Makonde influenced President Mugabe
to postpone a crucial
by-election in Kariba constituency, following the fall
from grace of former
finance and defence minister, Enos Nkala, a victim of
the Willowgate
scandal.
And when the candidate backed by the chiefs won the by-election,
it was a
triumph of great significance for them.
The victory brought
nostalgic memories of the power and influence chiefs,
headmen and village
heads wielded before government disempowered them.
The essence of their
power had been the right to allocate land in rural
areas.
Most chiefs
viewed Mugabe's acceptance of the Makonde chiefs' appeal as a
first step in
regaining the influence they wielded over their communities
before
1980.
Chiefs mistook the Kariba incident as an opportunity to haggle for
the
restoration of their former powers, diluted under the Customary Law
and
Primary Courts Act of 1981. They were in for a rude shock.
The
then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Emmerson
Mnangagwa
bowled the skittles over for the chiefs when he declared at a
workshop in
Gwanda that their right to allocate land had been transferred to
elected
district councils. The chiefs felt defrocked.
The second time a
traditional chief made a proposal that government approved
was when Chief
Kayisa Ndiweni suggested a grain loan scheme for starving
villagers, to
replace a government programme which had been terminated due
to rampant abuse
by undeserving State officials.
When government belatedly accepted the
plan, it did not credit Chief Ndiweni
with the idea. Instead, it seized the
opportunity to embellish the State's
routine obligation to provide largesse
in times of need as philanthropy
which had to be reciprocated by squeezing
Zanu PF support from the peasants.
Unwittingly, the chiefs have been
gradually drawn into the political fray by
the State. They have become agents
of coercion for Zanu PF, contrary to
their much-vaunted role as custodians of
national culture and traditional
values.
The State went further to
award traditional leaders hefty monthly allowances
of $10 000 each - more
than the minimum wage of an average worker – to
retain their
support.
Headmen were awarded half that amount, with village heads now
drawing
"allowances" from State coffers.
In return, the traditional
leaders have shepherded their subjects to polling
stations where chiefs'
hirelings keep a register of voters as they arrive.
"We cannot vote at
Mutikizizi School nearby, because our headman lives near
Bangure School, 15km
away," said 70-year-old Mbuya Nhorodo during the Bikita
West by-election last
year. "We have to make sure we appear on the chief's
register of those who
voted or face the consequences."
Illiterate villagers are terrorised into
believing the State has the means
to detect those that have voted for
opposition parties.
Few chiefs doubt the government's intention to make
them an appendage of the
ruling party.
Through the amended Electoral
Act, the chiefs have been given enormous
powers to collude and disenfranchise
peasants in resettlement areas.
The size of the communities' village
heads lead is small enough to determine
their subjects' political party
preferences.
"We are now looking into establishing traditional leadership
structures in
resettled areas," the Minister of Local Government, National
Housing and
Public Works, Ignatius Chombo said recently.
Despite being
upstaged by so-called war veterans who usurped their power to
allocate land
in the messy land reform programme, chiefs still hope they can
recoup lost
authority and self-esteem by remaining loyal to the idea of
being proteges of
the ruling party.
Chiefs have an unenviable record of colluding with the
State.
Successive colonial administrations, particularly that of Ian
Smith,
connived with them and the leaders proved an ideal medium of
propaganda to
discredit the nationalist struggle for independence.
As
aptly put by former parliamentarian Lot Senda during Chief
Mpini's
installation: "It is agonising to recall that in the past, colonial
rulers
used the chiefs as tools of oppression. By being used, chiefs turned
into
enemies of their own people and failed to play their role as
traditional
leaders in their communities."
Smith pampered chiefs into
believing that accepting sham independence under
a "bantustan-type"
alternative government, they would wield more power as
free
agents.
Similarly, Zanu PF party has used the chiefs.
During a
recruitment drive under the guise of a party membership data
collection
exercise before the June election, Zanu PF solicited the chiefs'
support. "We
want every village head to make a head count of his subjects,
ensure each has
a completed data form which is submitted to the chief," said
Vice-President
Joseph Msika then.
The exercise flopped when peasants failed to raise the
dollar registration
fee demanded due to pressing hardships.
It remains
to be seen whether chiefs will opt to abrogate their traditional
role of
interceding with the ancestors on behalf of their subjects for
more
involvement in mainstream politics.
But judging from Chief
Jonathan Mangwende's assertion in Parliament last
year that the land reform
programme had failed to de-congest the rural
areas, despite impressive but
doubtful figures churned out by the State
media, chiefs, headmen and village
heads appear to be destined, in the
immediate future, for a dubious role as
Zanu PF's recruiting agents.
The Times
TUESDAY JANUARY 22 2002
Mugabe defies EU over poll
sanctions
FROM MARTIN FLETCHER IN BRUSSELS
THE regime of President
Mugabe faced imminent sanctions by the European
Union last night after
failing to meet demands on the conduct of Zimbabwe’s
presidential elections
in March.
In a letter to the EU presidency Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwe’s Foreign
Minister,
railed against British interference in his country’s affairs, but
offered no
commitment that journalists and EU observers would be given full
and free
access to his country before and during the vote.
EU
diplomats in Brussels agreed last night on a final effort to
secure
Zimbabwe’s compliance before the EU’s 15 foreign ministers meet in
Brussels
at the end of the month to decide what action to
take.
President Mbeki of South Africa said that regional countries would
not use
economic sanctions, but hinted that Harare might be
censured.