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Tsvangirai supporters attacked ahead of Zimbabwe poll
15 MAR
2013
HARARE (AFP)
Seven members of Zimbabwe Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's party were
assaulted Friday while campaigning on the eve
of a key constitutional
referendum.
Sten Zvorwadza, a candidate MP for
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), said the group was
canvassing in a Harare township when they
were attacked by supporters of
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
"We went down to Mbare to put up
posters to canvass for a 'yes' vote when
ZANU-PF rowdy youths descended on
us," he told AFP.
"Seven of us got injured, two seriously."
Zvorwadza said
he was hit in the neck with a bottle and punched. He also
complained of
spinal pain.
A BBC crew filming the campaign was also punched.
The British
broadcaster's correspondent Andrew Harding said the MDC members
were
attacked while putting up posters urging people to vote for a new
constitution on Saturday.
The draft constitution will underpin new
elections to end the uneasy
power-sharing arrangement between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai.
Writing on the BBC website, Harding described Zvorwadza being hit
and kicked
by men and a woman being punched by other women.
"One of the
had a gash on his hand, a cut lip and cheek and bruises on his
head. It was
clear he had been badly beaten," he wrote.
The journalists were also punched
on the arms and back after an
"increasingly large and agitated crowd" turned
on them.
While the victims headed to hospital, one member of the team tried
to lodge
a complaint at a police station but was turned away, Zvorwadza
said.
"We sent a guy to report but police refused to take a report because he
was
wearing an MDC T-shirt," he said.
There was no immediate comment from
the police.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai were forced into an uneasy compromise
government after
polls in 2008 that were marred by deadly violence.
"The
attacks are a clear testimony that ZANU-PF wants to embark on acts of
violence," MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told AFP.
Zimbabwe attack reveals potential for
violence
Sten Zvorwadza (r) is
not sure it is worth reporting the attack to the
police
We were in
Mbare, a tough, poor neighbourhood close to the centre of Zimbabwe's capital,
Harare.
We were following a
group of about eight activists for the MDC who were putting up posters calling
on Zimbabweans to vote "Yes" to the new draft constitution in Saturday's
referendum.
Sten Zvorwadza, who
hopes to take over as the next MDC MP in Mbare, was wearing a smart grey suit
and waving a copy of the constitution while his colleagues used a bucket of
home-made glue to put up their posters.
When the first poster
was ripped down, Mr Zvorwadza condemned "Zanu thugs" who have routinely broken
up MDC rallies and meetings in the area.
But he and the team
continued to put up more posters on the walls of some old blocks of flats,
watched by a few dozen people.
Suddenly a woman came
charging towards us from a nearby market stall and ripped down two
posters.
“Start
Quote
Unfortunately supporters of Zanu-PF are very
violent, and don't support the cause that the country is fighting to bring peace
after so much violence”
Sten
Zvorwadza
"Who are you? Why are
you putting those posters up? Put them where you live. I'm not going to allow
you to do that here," she screamed.
Within seconds, she was
punching one of the women campaigners. Another woman joined
in.
Eventually they were
separated, but then two or three men began to punch and kick Mr Zvorwadza, and
throw water at him.
"Watch out… watch out!"
they said menacingly, brandishing glass bottles at him and ordering him to
leave.
As he slowly tried to
move away, an increasingly large and agitated crowd turned on me and cameraman
Stuart Phillips.
They tried to grab our
camera, then threw buckets of dirty water at us. Finally two or three men began
to punch us on the arms and back.
The urge to run was
almost overwhelming. But we feared that would provoke even more
violence.
Badly beaten
Sticking close to Mr
Zvorwadza, we walked back towards our car, with the crowd following close
behind.
Mr Zvorwadza said they
were shouting: "Next time we will kill you."
We became separated
from some of the other MDC campaigners.
Mr Zvorwadza said he
feared they might have been abducted or killed, but a few minutes later we met
them in their van back in the centre of Harare.
One of the men had a
gash on his hand, a cut lip and cheek and bruises on his head. It was clear he
had been badly beaten.
"Unfortunately
supporters of Zanu-PF are very violent, and don't support the cause that the
country is fighting to bring peace after so much violence," said Mr
Zvorwadza.
He said he was planning
to report the incident at a local police station but fully expected that he
would be arrested, rather than his attackers.
"The entire people
really long for peace and democracy and free and fair elections, but Zanu-PF
supporters - headed by President Robert Mugabe - continue to abuse Zimbabweans
as you have just witnessed," he said, urging Mr Mugabe "to uphold the rule of
law and make sure impunity is not promoted".
The MDC later said the
police had refused to accept a report made by those injured in the attack unless
they first removed their party T-shirts.
The whole incident
lasted only a few minutes, but it was a chilling reminder of the violence that
lurks very close to the surface here in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans
to vote Saturday in referendum on new constitution
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
15 March 2013
Zimbabweans will vote on Saturday on a proposed
new constitution, five years
after a general election that led to a disputed
result and widespread
violence that killed more than 500 people and
displaced more than 500,000.
Voters above 18 years of age will be casting
their ballots to accept or
reject a new constitution. The new constitution
is thought to be important
in that it limits the terms of the president and
gives Zimbabweans a bill of
rights.
The constitution is being backed
by both President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who
ran against in each other in the 2008
presidential election that turned into
violence and chaos.
The referendum was part of a deal that ended the
violence after the last
disputed election.
An MDC-T MP said the new
constitution, if adopted, will make politicians far
more accountable and
generally clean up the extremely dirty world that is
Zimbabwean
politics.
‘But if the process tomorrow (Saturday) passes off peacefully,
Zimbabwe can
then also show the world it has turned a corner and moved on
from the days
when voting meant violence.
‘This is a poll seen as a
test of democracy after the 2008 disaster and one
that could reshape the
politics of our nations after almost a decade of
political and economic
woes,’ the MP added.
Many Zimbabweans on both sides of the Yes and No
campaigns agree the new
constitution is not perfect, but our Harare
correspondent says such a
document will always need compromise.
It is
expected Saturday’s vote will point to a Yes victory, as all the main
political parties are backing this. Muchemwa said the passage of the new
charter could usher in a new era.
But if people vote No, which
Muchemwa said is ‘very remote’, the country
will go to the next election
using the current constitution with its 19
amendments. The current
constitution includes the post of Prime Minister,
held by the MDC’s Morgan
Tsvangirai.
‘Delivering a new constitution was a key SADC requirement of
the peace deal
to end the violence. The current law dates back to
independence and has
allowed Mugabe to rule unchallenged.
‘The
proposed legislation will, in theory, make the president and parliament
more
accountable, devolve power and improve citizens’ basic rights,’
Muchemwa
added.
But the MDC Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said:
“A new
constitution will not guarantee us a free and fair election. What is
going
to guarantee us a free and fair election is a culture of
constitutionalism.”
Referendum
challenge dismissed as Makarau sworn in as ZEC head
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
15 March 2013
Supreme Court Judge Rita Makarau was on Friday
sworn in to her new position
as the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC), in a move that
overturned a court application seeking to
have the referendum postponed.
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
on Thursday filed a court
challenge against the appointment of Joyce Kazembe
as the acting ZEC chair,
saying she is unqualified for the position. The NCA
said that Kazembe’s
‘unconstitutional’ position threatened the credibility
of the referendum
that until Friday she was set to oversee.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced this week that Makarau would only
be
sworn in after the referendum. But this plan was moved forward after the
NCA
filed its challenge on Thursday.
Makarau was sworn in by Robert Mugabe on
Friday at State House, along with
the new Chairperson of the Human Rights
Commission, Jacob Mudenda. Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the
swearing in of Makarau overturned the
NCA’s challenge.
The Supreme
Court on Friday dismissed the challenge along with a separate
one filed at
the same time by the International Socialist Organization
(ISO). The group
argued in court papers that there was not enough time
before the referendum
for their ‘no’ vote campaign.
Activist Raymond Majongwe was in court on
Friday and he explained that the
application, along with the NCA one, was
dismissed on a “technical basis.”
“The Court based its decision on issues
of urgency and said they we were
quiet until this week and so the case was
not urgent,” Majongwe told SW
Radio Africa.
He added that it was
“obvious” that Makarau’s swearing in was a direct
reaction to the NCA
challenge filed on Thursday.
“At the 13th hour they brought her and swore
her in, even after the Prime
Minister said this would only happen after the
referendum. We are dealing
with people who want this process (the
referendum) to go ahead no matter
what and the swearing in is part of that,”
Majongwe said.
ZEC
admits ‘error’ in failure to accredit ZimRights
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
15
March 2013
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in Friday admitted it
had made an
‘error’ in not accrediting some human rights groups ahead of the
weekend
referendum.
ZEC was reacting to a legal challenge filed by
the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Association (ZimRights), whose application for
accreditation had previously
been dismissed on the grounds that the group
was facing ‘criminal
investigation’.
ZEC and ZimRights met on Friday
and came to an agreement that the group
could apply for accreditation.
ZimRights’ legal representative, Tawanda
Zhuwarara told SW Radio Africa that
this was an “admission of wrongdoing,”
that was approved by the High Court
on Friday.
“ZEC made a consent order at the High Court meaning that their
decision to
refuse to accredit ZimRights was set aside. We have filed
accreditation
papers and the full accreditation committee is meeting to
decide what will
happen. The court order stipulated that a decision needed
to be made before
Saturday’s referendum,” Zhuwarara.
Also waiting for
accreditation before Saturday’s vote is the Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP)
whose director Jestina Mukoko was last week formally charged
as part of a
police crackdown on civic society. The ZPP submitted its
accreditation
papers on Thursday and by the time of going to print Friday
there was still
no word of what ZEC’s decision would be.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (ZESN) has said it has
deployed about 600 observers across
the country ahead of the referendum.
ZESN chairperson Solomon Zwana told SW
Radio Africa that the group remains
concerned that there has not been enough
time for Zimbabweans to study the
draft constitution.
“One of our
fears is that we are going to a referendum with many people not
having a
clue about what is in the charter. We will be monitoring the
process to see
if it is free and fair,” Zwana said.
ZESN has set up hotlines for
citizens to share their views and comments
about the referendum. Those
numbers are: 0774584669, 0715596701, and
0738918420.
Zimbabweans can also
participate on ZESN’s social media platforms
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Election-Support-NetworkZESN,
Twitter handle: #ZESN1 and Blog: www.blogspot.zesnblog.com.
ZEC 'threatens validity
of polls': report
http://mg.co.za/
15 MAR 2013 00:00 - INYASHA CHIVARA
The spotlight
has fallen on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's ability to
hold free and
fair elections.
The ability of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) to conduct free and
fair elections is under the spotlight following a
report by the Zimbabwe
Democracy Institute (ZDI) that has questioned the
relationship between the
ZEC and the Central Intelligence
Organisation.
Research from the ZDI shows there is too close a
relationship between the
Central Intelligence Organisation and the ZEC
secretariat regarding the
management of elections. The increased
militarisation of the state has led
to the military taking control of
election strategies, says the report.
The ZDI also alleges that most ZEC
commissioners have an intelligence
background in the government or are
former, and in some cases current,
Zimbabwe National Army members, and it
questions whether this is "by design
or is a mere coincidence".
The
report alleges that the ZEC secretariat, headed by chief elections
officer
Lovemore Chipunza Sekeramayi, involved in the 2008 election, in
which
results of the presidential poll were delayed for about a month, has
the
same staff to run this year's polls and so cannot be trusted to fulfil
its
mandate fairly.
The report says that, although the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC), the African Union and the international
community raised serious
concerns about the conduct of the electoral body in
2008, the ZEC
secretariat went ahead and declared the poll as free and
fair.
"The problematic, partisan and militarised ZEC secretariat that
presided
over the 2008 sham election remains intact," says the
report.
Main players
Among those named in the report who were ZEC
commissioners or part of its
secretariat in 2008, and who are still serving
the body, are:
• Major Utoile Silaigwana who is in the operations
division of the ZEC. He
has denied reports that he is still a serving
soldier.
• ZEC public relations officer Shupikai Mashereni, who the ZDI says
is still
a member of the army.
• ZEC deputy chairperson Joyce Kazembe who
was part of the now defunct
Electoral Supervisory Commission. She presided
over the disputed and
sometimes violent elections in 2002, 2005 and
2008.
• ZEC commissioner Theophilus Gambe who is a senior legal counsel and
also
worked in the Electoral Supervisory Commission during the 2002 and 2005
elections. He was a commissioner during the 2008 polls.
• ZEC
commissioner Sibongile Ndlovu, who has been involved in elections
since 1995
in various positions, including as an election officer,
election-monitoring
supervisor, voter education supervisor, deputy elections
officer for
Bulawayo and district elections officer.
• Chief elections officer Lovemore
Sekeramayi who is a former career civil
servant and has worked in the office
of the president and the registrar
general. He was chief executive of the
ZEC in 2005 after Major-General
Douglas Nyikayaramba resigned in order to
return to the army.
Credibility
The ZDI says that ZEC commissioners
cannot be trusted because some of them
have worked for the Central
Intelligence Organisation, and it is not clear
whether they are still
intelligence operatives.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
also in the past made the
accusation, without providing any names, that the
ZEC secretariat contains
serving Central Intelligence Organisation members
who are involved in the
manipulation of election results.
The ZEC
had not responded to enquiries about its credibility or the
allegations made
by the ZDI by the time of going to print.
The ZEC is an independent body
mandated to prepare, conduct and supervise
elections. It assists in the
compilation of the voters' roll, printing and
distribution of ballot papers
and ballot boxes, as well as operations at
polling centres.
Officials
in the MDC told the Mail & Guardian that the party has raised
concerns
about the ZEC with the SADC-appointed facilitator, South Africa.
"It [the
ZEC] is a very big area of concern. The involvement of the army and
intelligence in the ZEC secretariat is at the core of the credibility of
the next elections," said MDC national organising secretary Nelson
Chamisa.
He said the continued presence of commissioners who served
during the 2008
poll is a "real threat to the credibility of the elections".
"That
secretariat still has the mischief of the June 2008 elections hanging
over
it," he said.
Zuma
calls for peaceful Zimbabwe referendum
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 28 minutes
ago
SOUTH AFRICAN President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwe's
referendum, which will be
held tomorrow, must be peaceful.
The referendum
on a proposed constitution follows four years of prolonged
negotiations
between that country's political rivals facilitated by Pretoria
on behalf of
SADC. It paves way for elections later this year - to end the
shaky unity
government.
Civil groups have reported an upsurge in attacks in months
leading to the
referendum.
Zuma's advisor, Lindiwe Zulu, is in Harare
to observe the referendum.
“According to ZEC, it's all systems go and as
far as SADC and facilitator
President Zuma is concerned it has to happen in
peaceful conditions and we
are happy that the political principles they have
been calling for is a
peaceful referendum.”
But, many believe the
army and police, not voters, may ultimately decide the
country's
fate.
While the referendum on the constitution is largely expected to be
fair, the
main event - elections slated for July - may be decided by the
outsize
influence of a handful of those close to President Robert Mugabe,
89, the
country's leader for the past 33 years.
Already the police force
has launched a crackdown, raiding the offices of
rights groups and seizing
documents and communication equipment
Those allies include police chief
Augustine Chihuri, who reportedly told
senior police officers at a retreat
late last year that anyone who did not
support Mugabe's party.
Lest
there be any confusion, Chihuri has also denounced Mugabe's opponents,
including Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, as "stooges of the
West".
Police officers across the country have also been ordered to
register as
voters, and, reportedly, to vote for Zanu-PF.
Chihuri, a
key Mugabe ally, is a veteran of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle.
He is also
Zimbabwe's longest-serving police chief since independence in
1980.
He is one of many senior security force officials in Mugabe's
inner circle.
Oliver Mandipaka, a senior police officer, is reported to
have thrown his
hat into the ring as a Zanu-PF parliamentary candidate in
Buhera, in
south-east Zimbabwe.
High-ranking army officers such as
Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba
have also publicly declared their
allegiance to Zanu-PF.
In 2002, Nyikayaramba served as chief election
officer of the Electoral
Supervisory Commission, but by 2011 he openly
described Tsvangirai - who
leads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
Zanu-PF's main competition -
as a security threat.
Already the police
force has launched a crackdown, raiding the offices of
rights groups and
seizing documents and communication equipment.
Activists have been
detained and charged in what critics say is a campaign
to silence Mugabe's
critics and instil fear ahead of the July vote.
"You can already see the
state security agents continue to play a
significant role to ensure a
Zanu-PF victory through the criminalisation of
civic society on the basis of
trumped-up charges," says Thabani Nyoni,
director of the civic group
Bulawayo Agenda.
"The whole machinery of intimidation, repression and
propaganda has been
reawakened and as we approach the elections, where the
stakes are higher,
they will intensify the campaign to silence any
dissenting voices."
Essie Ncube, a political analyst based in Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second city,
says the security forces "have the potential to
destabilise the capacity to
have free and fair elections."
Additional
reporting by Sapa-AFP
South
African Envoys in Harare, Push For Political Reforms
http://www.voazimbabwe.com
Blessing
Zulu
14.03.2013
WASHINGTON — Southern African Development Community
(SADC) mediator in
Zimbabwe, South African president Jacob Zuma, has
dispatched envoys to
Harare to push for political reforms and to assess the
political situation
ahead of the constitutional referendum on
Saturday.
The envoys’ mission follows a SADC summit of the troika of the
organ on
politics, defence and security cooperation in Pretoria last
weekend, when
the body decided to back Mr. Zuma’s mediation efforts in
Zimbabwe. SADC is
urging Harare to implement media, security and electoral
law reforms.
Speaking with VOA, SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao
confirmed the SADC
position.
Lindiwe Zulu, spokesperson for
the envoys and international relations
advisor to Mr. Zuma, said they are
continuing to push for the election
roadmap to be
implemented.
Zimbabwe Democracy Institute board member Gladys
Hlatwayo said regional
leaders must not relent their attempts to resolve
outstanding issues.
Meanwhile, international rights group,
Amnesty International, says Harare
must stop its clampdown against activists
and protect constitutional rights
during the referendum.
In a
statement, Amnesty International said authorities should allow eligible
civil society organizations to observe the process without harassment and
intimidation.
Recent months have seen a clampdown on a number of
civil society
organizations that have been raided by the police and charged
with offences
ranging from causing malicious damage to property to smuggling
shortwave
radios into the country.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) this week said organizations facing
police investigations would not be
allowed to monitor the referendum.
Civic groups cleared to monitor the
vote are meeting in Harare on Friday and
will debate pulling out of the
monitoring effort if ZEC does not accredit
colleagues from the Zimbabwe
Peace Project and ZimRights as observers.
US calls for
monitoring of Zim referendum
http://www.news24.com/
2013-03-15 10:47
Washington - The
United States on Thursday called for the "broadest possible
monitoring" of
Zimbabwe's upcoming referendum on a new constitution.
"That's the best
way to ensure the integrity of the process for the
Zimbabwean people who've
been waiting a very, very long time to have more
democracy," said State
Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland.
After four years of debate,
Zimbabwe finally has a draft constitution that
will be put to citizens
Saturday in a referendum.
The new constitution proposes modest reforms to
basic rights but,
significantly, would not hinder President Robert Mugabe
from running for
another term as head of the state he has governed for
nearly 33 years, first
as premier and then as president.
All three
major political parties in the country are backing the charter,
which is
expected to easily pass.
In her remarks, Nuland was referring to reports
that the electoral
commission of Zimbabwe had refused to accredit members of
the Zimbabwe human
rights association as election monitors.
Nuland
also said the US welcomed the fact that the referendum was taking
place,
setting the stage for elections later this year.
"That's a very, very big
step for Zimbabwe," she said.
- SAPA
Outsiders offer cash to
Zim for favours
http://mg.co.za/
15 MAR 2013 00:00 - JASON MOYO
Foreign companies have
tempted Zimbabwe with money for elections in return
for lucrative mining
deals.
As desperation deepens over efforts to raise funds to run
elections, wealthy
foreign interests are offering funding in exchange for
huge favours from the
government.
Senior government officials who
spoke to the Mail & Guardian this week told
of pressure from large
foreign interests hoping to wangle commercial deals
by helping the
cash-strapped government to fund elections. These include
mining companies
and investors seeking to win new mineral concessions that
the government has
recently made available. Zimbabwe needs $132-million for
elections,
according to Finance Minister Tendai Biti – well above his
original
$25-million budget.
Biti this week appeared to acknowledge the pressure
on the government from
powerful interests seeking to buy influence. "I think
that it will be very
unfortunate if people think that they can exploit us
because we require
immediate resources now for our elections and for our
referendum."
A senior government source said he feared a "bought
election" funded by
wealthy figures who would "in return demand much more
than any government
will ever deliver".
Much of those proposing
funding hope to get mining concessions; in one such
proposal, a finance
ministry official said, one mining company proposes
easier mining royalties
and tax breaks for a year in exchange for
$100-million to help to fund
elections.
Elections are expected to be held in the middle of the year,
but some in
government want the date pushed back until Zimbabwe has raised
resources
from "credible sources", the official said.
Poll
funding
The frustration within the government over poll funding showed this
week
when Biti announced a raft of desperate measures to raise cash. This
included a 25% hike on fuel duty, an unpopular move likely to drive up
prices and further slow down the economy. Biti did not say how much he hoped
to raise with the fuel tax.
Biti also floated a special $40-million
special bond to Old Mutual and the
National Social Security Authority, the
state pension fund. The two are the
largest funds in Zimbabwe. He is also
betting that a large part of the
election funds will come from telecoms
operators' licence fees, which were
increased for June this year.
But
Biti admitted that all this is not going to be enough "in the absence of
the
financial support of co-operating partners". The government has insisted
it
is unwilling to take foreign funding for polls.
However, the M&G has
established from officials in the foreign affairs and
finance ministries
that the government discussed possible election funding
with Sheikh Saud
Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, ruler of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah,
who visited
Zimbabwe recently.
The Zimbabwe government has in turn presented
$2.7-billion worth of
potential deals in "value addition projects" to
Farzana Gul, a
representative of the emirate's Ras Resources.
"No
figures [on election money] were agreed, but there was the suggestion,
obviously, of some pay off for any assistance we get towards funding
elections," a senior official in the foreign affairs ministry said. "But
there are some who inevitably are opposed to us getting money from foreign
sources, at least those outside the United Nations
structures."
Mining
Zimbabwe and the oil-rich emirate signed
agreements on a number of "areas
of co-operation", mainly focused on
resources, agriculture, energy and
tourism.
Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu confirmed Zimbabwe and the sheikh had held talks
covering "the entire
mining spectrum".
The agreements would see the emirate funding the
building of a
diamond-cutting centre, and Zimbabwe would give it access to
platinum
concessions on condition it agrees to invest in a refinery.
Documents show
there was also talk of Ras Al Khaimah exploring the
possibility of setting
up a power plant in Zimbabwe.
The sheikh,
reported to have recently spent more than $10-million on a stake
in local
mining company African Consolidated Resources, has shown interest
in taking
over some or part of the 30 000 hectares of land seized from
Zimplats.
However, the government has also discussed the same
platinum concessions
with South African-based Cypriot businessperson Loucas
Pouroulis, who last
month reportedly wrote to the government seeking to take
up the concessions.
He has offered investment worth $4-billion in a bid to
win access to the
platinum concessions.
High
Court grants order barring anti-graft searches
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Nomalanga
Moyo
15 March 2013
The National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board (NIEEB) obtained
an interdict from the High Court barring
the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission (ZACC) from searching and seizing
documents from its offices.
Judge President George Chiweshe granted the
order on Thursday with the
consent of the corruption commission as well as
co-respondents, police chief
Augustine Chihuri and Attorney-General Johannes
Tomana.
In a statement NIEEB, through its lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa, said
ZACC had
agreed to stop the searches.
The anti-graft body was blocked
from carrying out two separate legal
searches this week, after being granted
search warrants by a High Court
judge on Monday.
The warrants, signed
by Justice Charles Hungwe, gave ZACC investigators the
go-ahead to search
the Harare-based offices of the Zimbabwe Mining and
Development Corporation
(ZMDC) and the NIEEB.
ZACC had also sought to search and collect
documents from the offices of the
Ministers of Mines and Mining Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment as
well as Transport, Communications and
Infrastructure Development.
In its application ZACC indicated that they
wanted to search the three
ministers’ offices for documents which “would
assist in the investigation of
the alleged corrupt deals” in the country’s
indigenisation programme.
Regional group the Anti Corruption Trust of
Southern Africa (ACT-Southern
Africa) on Thursday slammed the deliberate
interference by ZANU-PF
politicians in the work of ZACC, calling it
“disturbing.”
The indigenisation programme is a controversial ZANU-PF
project in which
foreign-owned companies must cede 51% ownership to locals.
It has been hit
with allegations of massive corruption and public fights
involving senior
party officials.
Ministers
off the hook
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Friday, 15 March 2013 10:41
HARARE - The Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc)’s bid to search two
key government
ministries over possible graft has flopped after the crime
busters consented
to a High Court interdict barring the raids.
With Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment minister Savior
Kasukuwere and his Mining
counterpart Obert Mpofu reportedly under the
spotlight, Tinei Dodo,
representing Zacc yesterday agreed to the two
ministries’ application,
grinding the intended busts to a halt.
As stakes get high in the National
Indigenisation and Empowerment Board
(Nieeb) saga which was first exposed by
the Daily News in February, there
seems no end in sight to the sensational
case.
The issue has gone viral since the Daily News broke the Nieebgate
Scandal on
February 14, exposing apparent flaws in the nearly $1 billion
Zimbabwe
Platinum Mines Limited (Zimplats) deal — touted as the biggest
empowerment
deal since independence in 1980 but now turning out to be the
biggest
commercial scandal.
Following the expose, Zacc obtained a
search warrant from the High Court to
search and seize documents from the
two ministries.
However, Nieeb, which falls under the ministry of
Indigenisation and
Empowerment and Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation(ZMDC), which falls
under the Mines and Mining Development
ministry on Wednesday filed a High
Court urgent chamber application seeking
to bar Zacc from ransacking
government offices in search of potentially
damaging evidence.
Judge President George Chiweshe’s ruling by consent
means its back to the
drawing board for Zacc, while the two ministries get
the much needed
breathing space.
Nieeb and ZMDC were represented by
Gerald Mlotshwa.
“My learned friend Dodo has indicated that first
respondent (Zacc) is not
opposed to the interim relief sought,” said
Mlotshwa.
In the application, ZMDC said Zacc had bungled in the process
of obtaining
the search warrants, thus temporarily freeing the Zanu PF
ministers.
In his affidavit, Cleopas Makonese, ZMDC’s acting general
manager said Zacc
had no power to get a search warrant from the High
Court.
“Section 50(1) of the Criminal Procedure & Evidence, from
which the search
warrant purports to have been issued does not empower, with
the greatest of
respect, a Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe to grant
search warrants in
the manner and circumstances to which this search warrant
relates.
“I am verily advised that Section 50(1) grants the power to a
judge to issue
out a search warrant only in those circumstances where search
warrant
relates to proceedings over which the judge concerned is presiding,
in other
words during the course of criminal proceedings pending before such
Judge,”
reads part of Makonese’s affidavit.
ZMDC further said their
chamber application was urgent because its
operations were important to the
economy of the country.
“The execution of the illegal search warrant will
certainly disrupt its
operations and irreparably prejudice the national
fiscus to which the
applicant is a critical and major contributory,” ZMDC
claimed.
According to the search warrant, the probe team want a register
of all
mining companies that have complied with the Indigenisation and
Economic
Empowerment Act, copies of all agreements entered into between
mining
companies, the government and communities.
According to
information reaching the Daily News, Zacc had reasonable
grounds to suspect
that there was abuse of duty by public officers handling
the indigenisation
transaction in contravention of Section 174 of the
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act.
Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo
has publicly admitted that
corruption is a cancer afflicting the former
liberation movement.
Mugabe also admitted that Kasukuwere got it wrong in
implementing the
indigenisation programme in relation to the obtaining of
shares in platinum
mining giant Zimplats.
Apart from resorting to the
legal channels to block Zacc from getting to the
bottom of the shoddy
empowerment deals, Nieeb officials reportedly used guns
to stop the
anti-graft body from entering its offices. - Tendai Kamhungira
Sadc
leaders restricting access to justice: Gutu
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Friday, 15 March 2013
10:13
HARARE - Leaders of the 14-nation regional grouping Sadc want the
bloc’s
Tribunal to be a useless court that does not grant individuals access
to
appeal against their governments, a Zimbabwean minister has
said.
Deputy minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Obert Gutu told a Sadc
regional
colloquium in Johannesburg this week that the decision by Sadc
leaders at
the 32nd heads of State and government summit held in Mozambique
last August
to consider reopening the regional court of appeal with limited
jurisdiction
will deny millions of Sadc citizens access to
justice.
The Namibia-based court was suspended in 2010 after ruling
against President
Robert Mugabe’s land seizures.
Sadc leaders that
met in Maputo last year maintained the suspension of the
court amid reports
Zimbabwe insisted that the court’s powers be further
whittled down, its
ability to adjudicate in human rights matters be
destroyed and that it
should bar individual access.
“This decision has reduced the Tribunal
into a mere interstate court which
cannot be accessed by individual persons,
both natural and juristic,” Gutu
said. He said the court was supposed to be
a regional judicial institution
that administers justice to the people of
Sadc.
A communique issued at the end of the Maputo Sadc summit, a new
protocol on
the Tribunal should be negotiated and that “its mandate should
be confined
to interpretation of the Sadc treaty and protocols relating to
disputes
between member States.”
Gutu said: “The option of an
interstate court which is preferred by our
heads of State is in reality a
nullity because I cannot imagine any one of
our States taking the other to
the Tribunal.
“This leaves us with a rather awkward state of affairs
where the very tenets
of rule of law and human rights that the Sadc Tribunal
is intended to uphold
are circumscribed without any meaningful
justification. This is because the
same decision appears to be nothing more
than a deliberate move to restrict
access to justice.”
The Tribunal
in 2008 ruled in favour of 78 white farmers fighting against
the seizure of
their land by Mugabe’s government, and ordered Zimbabwe to
uphold the
Tribunal’s order to return confiscated land and compensate
farmers for lost
property.
Zimbabwe’s government refused to comply with the Sadc
Tribunal’s ruling and
challenged the regional court’s
decision.
Zimbabwe’s courts flatly declined to register the Tribunal’s
decision,
saying it violates the country’s Constitution.
The last
Maputo summit was the second year the Sadc summit has failed to
revive the
Tribunal after Harare raised objections.
“The past few years have
witnessed the summit of the Sadc heads of State and
government taking two
gigantic steps backwards: first in the form of the
decision to suspend the
Tribunal pending a review of its role,
responsibilities and terms of
reference and as I mentioned earlier by
deciding to make the Tribunal an
interstate court,” Gutu said. - Gift Phiri,
Political Editor
Mpofu
should explain riches: Tsvangirai
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
15/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
MDC-T Leader Morgan Tsvangirai has challenged Mines Minister
Obert Mpofu to
explain the source of the wealth which has allowed him to buy
one of the
country’s commercial banks.
Addressing a referendum
campaign rally in Bulawayo Thursday, the premier
accused Zanu PF ministers
of “looting State resources” at a time the
majority of Zimbabweans were
struggling to survive.
According to a statement from the MDC-T,
Tsvangirai told supporters: “Ask
Obert Mpofu how he managed to buy a bank
when yesterday he had nothing. I
hear he has bought almost half of
Bulawayo."
Mpofu assumed 100 percent ownership of the Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group
(ZABG), now renamed Allied Bank, after injecting about US$23
million into
the institution last June.
The investment, confirmed by
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), effectively
rescued the bank from
possible collapse after it had struggled to meet new
minimum capital
requirements.
“Dr Obert Mpofu who came forward with his money and sought
permission to
take over ZABG bank which was ailing then is a case in point,”
RBZ chief
Gideon Gono said last year.
“We gave him two years within
which to regularise the ownership structure of
that bank to a maximum of 25
per cent for any single shareholder which he
committed to do but for the
time being he has put in money and is a 99,9 per
cent
shareholder.”
But questions have been raised over the source of Mpofu’s
wealth amid
reports he also owns a huge property portfolio in Bulawayo and
Victoria
Falls.
He however, defended by his deputy, Gift Chimanikire
of the MDC-T, who
insisted that his boss had “worked hard” for his
riches.
“What kind of a genius could he be to create such amount of
wealth in one
year?” Chimanikire enthused while speaking at diamond
conference last
November.
“When I joined the Mines ministry, Mpofu
had been there for a year. He
already had that kind of
wealth.”
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai urged supporters to vote for the new
constitution in
Saturday’s plebiscite.
“The Lancaster House Constitution
was a ceasefire document and not a
democratic document. Zanu PF used it as a
power transfer tool. As a result,
after 18 amendments the Constitution
brought our nation to its knees,” he
said.
“The new constitution sets
out the Bill of Rights which for the first time
expands people’s rights in
totality. People shall henceforth be able to
freely express their opinion,
associate, and move freely without fear.
“There shall be a devolved
State. Everything shall be done at provincial
level. We shall not have
(Local government minister Ignatius) Chombo firing
democratically elected
people willy-nilly. Provinces shall be more
accountable and resources
distributed equally.”
Zanu
PF wants to grab my farm — Mutinhiri
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Friday, 15 March 2013
10:33
HARARE - Ex-Zanu PF Women’s League political commissar and
legislator Tracy
Mutinhiri claims her former comrades are moving in to grab
her farm as
preparations for elections gain momentum.
Mutinhiri, who
is now a member of the MDC, nearly lost her farm in 2011
after she had been
accused of befriending MDC officials.
The well-planned move to take over
farms from blacks not loyal to President
Robert Mugabe has raised fears that
only Zanu PF supporters will retain
their farms.
Mutinhiri claimed
she is being spied on by people from her former party.
The ex-deputy
minister of Labour claimed one of her farmworkers was being
used to track
her down and feeding information to top Zanu PF officials who
are salivating
over her farm in the prime agriculture region of Marondera.
“I received a
call from my farmworkers this morning (Tuesday) who had been
warned that a
takeover was going to take place. They chased me away from the
party and I
am now happy in the MDC, a party which respects people’s lives.
Now I have
stalkers on my back,” she said.
In 2011 Zanu PF youth militia invaded
Mutinhiri’s farm and it took the
intervention of police in riot gear to save
her farm.
At the time she was being crucified for her closeness to Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
The militia took camp at the entrance of
Mutinhiri’s Tapiwanashe Farm and
dancing to Zanu PF songs denouncing the
then deputy minister.
Mapfumo
says Zimbabweans should vote Yes if new constitution is good
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By
Violet Gonda
15 March 2013
Chimurenga music star Thomas Mapfumo has
said if the new constitution is
good for the people then Zimbabweans ‘should
just go for it’ at the
referendum on Saturday.
The United States
based musician, who is in the United Kingdom to perform in
a rare show with
fellow music legend Oliver Mtukudzi, said even though he
has not read the
draft charter, Zimbabweans have been suffering for a very
long time and
therefore should vote for the new constitution if it is good
for
them.
“There have been a lot of problems in Zimbabwe. We want everybody
to live a
good life in Zimbabwe. We don’t care who is in power as long as
they look
after the people, that’s good for us.”
Mapfumo told SW
Radio Africa he is excited to be performing again with his
good friend for
the first time since their joint show in the UK four years
ago.
The
two music legends have been talking about working on an album together
and
are set to perform in London and Leicester, on Friday and Saturday
respectively.
“Yes that is in the pipeline. We have been talking
about that.” Mapfumo
added: “We need to do that as soon as possible, you
know we are growing old
and time is not on our side. We need to do a lot of
things. I have a lot of
backlog myself, a lot of music which is not recorded
but I would like do
something with Oliver.”
He has a new album of his
own that is coming out soon. The Chimurenga
musician said he is very excited
about the new CD which he says will be very
different this time “with some
strange beats.”
“We need to change with the times. Zimbabwe is not an
issue these days and
we have to look at the rest of the world where people
are dying and a lot of
people are suffering.
“We are reading about
Syria, refugees, people running away from their homes.
So those are
important things we have to address.”
Mapfumo, who has been living in
self-imposed exile in the United States
since 2003, said he has been in
talks with business mogul Phillip Chiyangwa
and is making plans to return to
Zimbabwe after elections to perform there.
He said his roots are in
Zimbabwe but he will return to the States to work
‘because there are too
many opportunities overseas.”
Mapfumo also said he recently held talks
with Deputy Prime Minister
Mutambara, calling on the government of Zimbabwe
to gazette a law to stop
music piracy so as to protect already struggling
musicians in the country.
Consumers
to pay more for maize-meal
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Nomalanga Moyo
14 March
2013
Consumers will now fork out almost double the amount for a bag of
maize
meal, in what is thought to be a response to a fuel duty hike by the
government last week.
On March 11th Finance Minister Tendai Biti
announced a 20 percent increase
on fuel duty in a desperate bid to raise
money for the upcoming elections.
Following the announcement suppliers
indicated they would be passing the
increase on to consumers, with the pump
price for petrol already up by 6-9
cents.
In a country with 90%
unemployment and where the average wage is $150, any
increase, however
minor, is a cause for concern as indicated by the general
outcry that
greeted Biti’s remarks.
In what is feared to be the first of expected
increases, most Harare shops
had by Friday hiked the price of a 10kg bag of
mealie-meal to $6,50 – $7,50
up from $4,70, the Herald reports. Grain
vendors responded with a $2
increase on a bucket of maize, from $4 to
$6.
However the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said they did not
think the
price hike on maize meal had anything to do with that of fuel “as
those were
two sectors”.
The head of the consumer body, Rosemary
Siyachitema, said the country is
facing a shortage of grain which she blamed
on last year’s poor harvest.
Siyachitema also said there had been issues
with the original supplier of
cheaper grain, meaning that the country had to
look elsewhere for imports.
“As a result, maize had to be sourced from
elsewhere, and from the Grain
Marketing Board, where it is more
expensive.
Siyachitema expressed concern at the lack of consultation by
government
prior to raising fuel duty, saying consulting would have yielded
alternatives.
“A fuel price rise means the cost of transport,
services and basic
commodities will also go up and this is not matched by
any substantive
salary increase.
“I am sure by month-end we will see
a spate of other increases because we
import a lot of our goods. This adds
more pressure on the already
hard-pressed consumer,” she
said.
Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Wednesday, economic analyst Tony
Hawkins said
he felt the government’s options were limited given that
Zimbabweans are
already over-taxed.
Hawkins added that it wasn’t
surprising that Biti opted for a fuel tax, as
it is “a relatively
inexpensive way of raising government revenue.”
SA
‘will not extend’ Zimbabwean document drive
http://www.bdlive.co.za/
by Ray Ndlovu, March 15 2013,
12:50
HARARE — South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs will not
extend the
documentation exercise for Zimbabwean nationals living in South
Africa, an
official in the department has said.
In May 2009 South
Africa suspended the deportation of undocumented
Zimbabweans and later
introduced a special dispensation under which
Zimbabwean nationals were
given an opportunity to regularise their stay in
South Africa and apply for
work, business and study permits.
South Africa initially set a December
2010 deadline but later extended it to
July 2011 after Zimbabwean officials
complained that they could not meet the
demand for passports from applicants
— which were a requirement needed
before applications for the South African
permit could be processed.
Spokesman Lunga Nqengelele recently ruled out
the possibility of the
Department of Home Affairs extending the deadline,
following intimations
that the Zimbabwean government was keen to engage
South Africa on the
matter.
Kembo Mohadi, one of Zimbabwe’s two home
affairs ministers, is pushing for
South Africa to extend the deadline that
lapsed at the end of July 2011.
"Engagements will continue because this
is not a one-off thing. A lot of our
people continue to cross the border
into South Africa without proper travel
documents and it is something that
happens every day", Mr Mohadi said.
But Mr Nqengelele ruled out any
chances of a moratorium and said, "There is
no indication of extending the
exercise at all. It has been completed."
There are about 2-million
Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa and
the latest figures from the
department show only 275,762 people had
regularised their stay under the
facility.
Trevor Maisiri, a political analyst based at the Johannesburg
offices of the
International Crisis Group, has said that despite South
Africa insisting it
will not extend the documentation process, the political
instability in
Zimbabwe could fuel an increase in
border-jumping.
"It’s a case of closing the back door while leaving the
front door open …
the situation in Zimbabwe keeps feeding more people into
South Africa," Mr
Maisiri said.
"Until Zimbabwe has levels of
political stability and economic recovery, the
regularisation exercise will
continue to face challenges as more people will
illegally cross the
borders."
Crackdown
in Zim is latest hallmark of Mugabe dictatorship
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Opinion: Recent crackdown in
Zimbabwe is latest hallmark of Mugabe
dictatorship
By J. Thomas
15
March 2013
Since the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in
2008, it
has been a clear and deliberate policy of President Robert Mugabe
and
ZANU-PF to hold onto power despite popular domestic opposition.
President
Mugabe has held the reins of executive authority for over three
decades,
causing many outside observers to forget that both he and his
political
party have experienced defeat, first in 2000 during a
constitutional
referendum and most recently in 2008, when Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
bested him at the polls. Despite the massive amounts of
violence,
harassment, and intimidation that was, and continues to be,
inflicted upon
opposition supporters and civil society, countervailing
opinions remain
strong and vocal.
While several public opinion surveys
over the course of the past year show
an increase in support for ZANU-PF and
sometimes significant declines in
support for Tsvangirai’s MDC, many experts
nonetheless concede that the
country’s liberation party is not in a
favorable electoral position. In
fact, it seems the only manner in which
ZANU-PF can feasibly triumph is if
the election environment is once again
marred by violence – perpetrated by
the country’s highly partisan police and
security forces which have already
deployed across the country – and by
means of malfeasance by election
officials, including those at the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) and
polling stations.
The suppression of
rights for the Ndebele speaking minority is also a
cynical, though entirely
rational, political strategy that has been employed
by President Mugabe and
ZANU-PF. While the disarray in Zimbabwe is often
explained or otherwise
viewed through the prism of political affiliation, it
is important to note
the severe social cleavages and tensions that currently
exist. Ethnic
identity in Zimbabwe often, though not always, manifests
itself through
political preference. While this phenomenon is not exclusive
to Zimbabwe,
the way in which ZANU-PF has historically and consistently
suppressed this
minority group is unique.
The Gukurahundi genocide that occurred during the
early to mid 1980’s killed
upwards of 20,000 native Ndebele speakers and
their sympathizers. While the
violence officially ended in 1987 – after the
signing of the Unity Accord
establishing ZANU-PF as Zimbabwe’s de facto
ruling party – the oppression
has nevertheless continued. Economic activity
is purposely stifled and the
provision of basic services such as education,
water, and electricity is
sporadic and subpar at best. Increased calls for
devolution of power –
including in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo
– have been ignored.
Civic organizations at the forefront of social advocacy
and reform,
including Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Habakkuk Trust, and
the National
Youth Development Trust (NYDT), have bore the brunt of the
state’s ire for
daring to question this longstanding status quo, suffering
repeated arrests,
beatings, and harassment without adequate
redress.
President Mugabe, in collusion with ZANU-PF hardliners in the
military,
security sector, and the police, have expertly perceived and
exaggerated
threats to national security, driving them to abridge civil
liberties and
human rights. Civic leaders and opposition political figures
who challenge
President Mugabe’s dictatorial directives are often branded
“enemies of the
state” and “agents of regime change.” These labels, in
effect, allow state
security agents to act with impunity, often arresting
leaders on spurious
grounds and using repressive legislation to stifle
peaceful assembly,
association, and freedom of expression. When this
‘persecution by
prosecution’ fails to deter legitimate democratic activity,
disappearances,
extrajudicial killings, and murder often occur.
The
heinous acts perpetrated by ZANU-PF – and its affiliated militias and
“war
veterans” – fit neatly into the party’s liberation ideology, a
continuation
of the narrative utilized by President Mugabe to ostensibly
safeguard the
country from the imperial and neocolonial impulses of the
West. Most
recently, this rationale has been used by the country’s partisan
police to
“ban” shortwave radios, which are allegedly used to incite
violence and
peddle foreign propaganda. A number of prominent civic
organizations,
including Radio Dialogue and Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP),
have been raided
and a growing number of radios have been confiscated in a
blatant effort to
muzzle freedom of expression and access to independent
media. Of paramount
concern is the fact that these latest actions on the
part of the police are
taking place in the crucial time period before the
constitutional referendum
and watershed elections, a moment in time when
civic education is crucial to
both combat voter apathy and spur civic
activity.
Zimbabwe is in the
midst of an uncertain transition, where most institutions
of the government
remain unreformed. ZANU-PF continues to run roughshod over
and dominate
important ministerial portfolios, including local government,
defense, the
police, the security sector, and mining. This toxic combination
has, in
effect, created a parallel government in which ZANU-PF, partly due
to
enormous windfalls from diamond and natural resource revenue, has been
allowed to control vital levers of power in the country.
What is more,
ZANU-PF has recently installed party stalwarts and long-time
supporters to
oversee important institutions, including the ZEC and the
Human Rights
Commission. The previous director of the HRC resigned in
December 2012 due
to the lack of a clear mandate, requisite funding, and
buy-in from political
elites, many of which have been implicated or
suspected of committing crimes
against humanity.
Overall, the dire human rights problems in Zimbabwe are
attributable to a
climate of violence that has been fostered and perpetuated
by ruling elite
within ZANU-PF. Major institutions of the state, including
the police,
military, courts (particularly at the local magistrate level),
and the
President, are part of the problem, not the solution. This cabal of
vested
interests views their entrenched power, and the privileges that
necessarily
flow therewith, as a divine right. In public, ZANU-PF frames
their hold on
power as necessary to protect against an inevitable
neocolonial onslaught,
while in private it is their desire to protect
amassed wealth and shield
themselves from criminal prosecution that
underlies aspirations to rule in
perpetuity.
While there is an impressive
level of political direction and assertiveness
by ordinary citizens, public
interest groups, and human rights defenders,
the Mugabe regime has ably kept
these social forces in check. Over the
course of the past several months, a
concerted and unsurprising crackdown on
civil society has caused
organizations to be largely on the defensive, with
police break-ins, raids,
and arrests commonplace throughout the country. The
human rights situation
will likely deteriorate further, as activists – and
opposition supporters
alike – will continue to encounter a parallel
government that is bolstered
by an impunity infrastructure, comprising the
country’s most violent,
increasingly affluent, and wholly unaccountable
individuals. For these
reasons, regional and international engagement is
necessary in the immediate
term, including advocating for and securing
international election monitors
and peacekeepers well in advance of
scheduled elections. Such measures are
necessary to adequately safeguard the
basic rights of citizens and will also
improve the long-term prospects for
genuine democratic reform, political
stability, and overall human
development in Zimbabwe.
This
week in Zimbabwe
http://www.cathybuckle.com
March 15, 2013, 1:30 pm
Quite apart from the legal
battle between the owners of the House of
Gushungo fashion label and the
Zanu PF party over ownership of the brand,
the story tells us quite a lot
about Robert Mugabe’s self-image. Gushshungo,
as everyone knows, is Mugabe’s
totem and we are told that Mugabe himself is
not making any money from of
the use of his name on T shirts, berets and
various other items of clothing.
He has simply given the fashion house
permission to use his signature and as
a result there are people walking
around Harare with Mugabe’s name
emblazoned on their shirts. It all smacks
of the cult of the personality and
the fact that the scheme has Mugabe’s
approval indicates that he is not
reluctant to have his name used in this
way. I suppose it must give a
considerable boost to his ego to see people
with his name inscribed on their
clothes. As for the party he leads, they
are only too happy to exploit their
leader’s name to increase their support
at the polls. It is hardly likely
that the wearer of one of these T shirts
would be an opposition supporter,
is it? The battle of the T shirts is about
to be resumed and we all know
what that entails. When wearers of opposing
parties’ T shirts meet in the
bottle store you can be pretty sure that a
punch-up will follow; after all
supporters of Zanu PF would wear a shirt
bearing Gushungo’s name.
Last week, the Police Commissioner ordered the police to ensure a Zanu
PF
victory, “Leave now if you’re not going to toe the line” he told them.
Everyone knows that Augustine Chihuri is an avid supporter of Robert Mugabe,
that is why he has kept his job for thirty years. Mugabe and Zanu PF have
been in power for so long that they actually believe that they have an
inalienable right to rule Zimbabwe. When it comes to election observers, we
hear that hardliners within the party are opposed to western observers for
fear that there will be unacceptable conditions attached. The MDC reminded
Zanu PF that it is not for a political party to decide who the observers
will be. Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has turned down a request by
Zim Rights to observe the elections on the grounds that Zim Rights is under
police investigation. Now that the case against the director has been
dismissed, it will be interesting to see if Zim Rights is now acceptable!
Morgan Tsvangirai informed the country this week that the GPA principals had
not yet made a decision about international observers but once again Zanu
PF - the Vice President this time - declared that there will be no external
observers.
The Referendum on the draft constitution takes place
tomorrow.100 SADC
observers have been deployed to cover the entire country.
They will leave
again on March 20 , the question is will the results will be
out by then?
The African Commission has ordered Zimbabwe to allow
Zimbabweans in the
diaspora the right to vote in this Referendum but it
remains to be seen
whether Zimbabwe will obey the order. Interest in the
Referendum appears to
be lukewarm; not surprising really when you consider
that most people have
not even seen the draft which has been abridged from
the original 170 pages
down to 45; a somewhat suspicious abbreviation, you
might think! And as for
those pesky short wave radios, this week George
Charamba virtually accused
the UK of smuggling them into the country to help
Mugabe’s rivals. “The
radios have a sinister intent,” Charamba declared.
Personally I can’t see
how an inanimate object can have an intent of any
kind, sinister or
otherwise but perhaps a Mugabe signature might make them
less ‘sinister’ in
Charamba’s eyes?
Yours in the (continuing)
struggle, Pauline Henson.