http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
19 March
2013
Zimbabwe’s new constitution received overwhelming approval from
voters in a
referendum on Saturday, according to final results released by
the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Tuesday.
Nearly 95 percent
of voters approved the constitution, compared with 5.5
percent who voted No,
and the total votes cast has turned out to be the
highest in any poll since
Independence in 1980, beating the previous record
set in the 2002
presidential election.
In that poll, pitting Robert Mugabe against Morgan
Tsvangirai, 3,046,891
voted. Saturday’s referendum attracted 3,259, 454
votes.
A total of 3,079,966 people (representing 94.5 percent) voted Yes
while 179,
489 voted No. There were 56,627 spoilt papers. The results were
announced in
Harare by the ZEC chief election officer, Lovemore
Sekeramayi.
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric
Matinenga said every
Zimbabwean should be happy with the result of the
referendum.
‘What is more important is the number of votes polled which
is the highest
in the history of elections of this country. This comment
that the result is
not legitimate is not serious,’ he said.
The
constitution’s supporters declared that Zimbabwe had entered a new era
and
the charter’s approval paves the way for elections, likely to be held by
July this year.
‘The people have spoken loudly in favour of
democratic change. There can be
nothing more people driven than this,’
Minister of State in the Prime
Minister’s office Jameson Timba said on his
Facebook page.
He added: ‘The total valid votes cast are 55 percent of
total registered
voters hence the referendum is credible and legitimate and
represents the
will of the people.’
The referendum comes five years
after violence erupted following the 2008
elections, which were marred by
allegations of vote rigging and fraud. More
than 500 people were killed in
the state sponsored and politically motivated
attacks. Hundreds of thousands
were displaced.
A new constitution was a key provision of a power-sharing
deal that ended
the violence. In the run-up to Saturday’s vote, many
Zimbabweans had feared
that violence would again come back to haunt the
country following its
resurgence in some parts of the country.
But
analysts believe it passed off peacefully because both President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were in favor of the
constitution, ensuring that most Zimbabweans would support its
passage.
The constitution, which Mugabe must sign into law, limits the
president’s
stay in power to two five year terms. The charter also provides
for the
establishment of a National Prosecuting Authority, fixed terms for
service
chiefs and heads of parastatals and other government institutions
and
creates institutions that (in theory) are supposed to promote democracy,
peace, transparency and accountability.
Some individuals and
organizations opposed the constitution, saying it was
nothing more than a
political process, worked out between the three
political parties in the
unity government and that it did not reflect the
will of the
people.
Blessing Vava, spokesman for the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA),
wrote on his Facebook page saying: ‘This process was just a battle in
the
war for democratic change in our lifetime. We lost the battle but the
war is
on until total victory…we will never betray the generational mission
to
realize all the Peoples Charter and Convention objectives…No retreat No
Surrender.”
ZANU PF’s COPAC co-chairman Paul Mangwana said the margin
of the referendum’s
success is testimony that it represented the wishes of
the Zimbabwean
people.
‘Yesterday we were called sellouts, but today
people have shown that we are
not sellouts. We are extremely happy with the
massive endorsement this
referendum has received, especially given that it
has recorded the highest
number of votes since independence,’ Mangwana
added.
His MDC-T counterpart, Douglas Mwonzora, expressed the hope that
the peace
that prevailed during the referendum will be repeated during the
harmonized
poll in a few months time.
‘There was a 26 percent
increase of people who voted in the referendum than
the 2008 elections
because then there was war waged against the people and
massive
intimidation.
‘In this referendum, there was no intimidation, no war and
no forced
disappearances. This extra 26 percent number of extra voters
represents the
intimidated voters in 2008,’ Mwonzora said.
Votes by
province -
http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/votesbyprovince.pdf
(AFP) – 33 minutes
ago
HARARE — Four aides to Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
were on
Tuesday charged with breaching the official secrets code as their
lawyer was
slapped with obstructing justice.
A magistrate ordered
them all back into custody despite a High Court order
instructing the police
to free the lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa.
They will return to court on
Wednesday for a ruling on their bail
application.
Mtetwa, a top human
rights lawyer, is accused of shouting at the police
while she attended to
calls for legal help when Tsvangirai's aides were
arrested.
Thabani
Mpofu, director for research in Tsvangirai's office, two
subordinates and a
senior party official were arrested on Sunday, in the
wake of a key
constitutional referendum.
The four are facing charges of breaching the
official secrets code,
impersonating the police and illegal possession of
documents for criminal
use.
The state alleges that they were
preparing criminal and corruption cases
against Zimbabwe's police chief, the
attorney general and other senior
government officials, including the very
prosecutors handling their case.
Two of the premier's officers are former
employees of the attorney general's
office, while one of them is on
suspension from the same office which is in
charge of state
prosecutions.
Mpofu is facing additional separate charges of failing to
renew a firearm's
licence and not keeping the weapon in a secure
place.
Applying for bail, lawyer Alec Muchadehama complained that the four
aides
were arrested and detained unlawfully.
"These are good citizens who
deserve not to stay in custody," he said.
But prosecutor Michael Mugabe
opposed bail saying the four were facing
serious charges, while prosecutors
in Mtetwa's case opposed bail as well.
The arrests marred Zimbabwe's
largely peaceful constitutional referendum,
which took place on
Saturday.
The draft charter was approve by nearly 95 percent of votes
cast. It
curtails the president's powers and sets a limit of two five-year
terms.
Tsvangirai is in an uncomfortable unity government with his
arch-rival and
veteran leader President Robert Mugabe, which will end with
elections
planned under the new constitution.
Reacting to the arrest
of his aides and their lawyer, Tsvangirai told
journalist that "this is the
natural reaction of people who feel trapped,
who feel they have lost power.
These are acts of desperation."
Zimbabwean police have launched a series
of raids to seize two-way and
shortwave radio receivers, a policy that
rights groups say is a fig-leaf for
intelligence gathering and intimidation.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
19
March 2013
Prominent defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was denied bail by a
Harare
magistrate on Tuesday, following her arrest on Sunday.
Mtetwa
made her first court appearance after police ignored a High Court
order
early Monday ordering her release.
Defence lawyer Dzimbabwe Chimbga said:
“Initially we had put before the
magistrate the issue of the unlawful
detention and the order which we got
from the High Court, which said she
should be released immediately, but the
magistrate said we must proceed to
apply for bail because that issue of the
High Court relates to the police,
not her.
“So we applied for bail and surprisingly the state said it was
not ready to
respond and they applied for that matter to be rolled over to
tomorrow.”
Scores of people, mainly from civil society and the legal
fraternity, went
to the magistrates’ court to express their solidarity with
Mtetwa, a
fearless human rights advocate.
The crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition said there was no sitting or standing room
in the courtroom due to
the large numbers of people who attended.
Over the years Beatrice has
represented many human rights and political
activists and on Sunday she was
arrested and charged with obstructing the
course of justice for attending to
her client, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s chief legal adviser, Thabani
Mpofu.
Police had raided Mpofu’s home around 6am on Sunday, allegedly
searching for
‘subversive material’. The MDC official and three others are
being accused
of ‘impersonating’ police officers.
The police accuse
Mtetwa of insulting and shouting at officers during the
arrest of her
clients, but Chimbga said the police insist that the
obstruction of justice
emanated from the fact that she “vigorously tried to
assert the rights of
her clients by demanding that a search warrant be shown
to them.”
He
added: “Obviously from our view that is a constitutional right of a
lawyer,
and in our view the charges are frivolous and vexatious and nothing
has
changed today because the police have not put before the courts any more
evidence to sustain their charge.”
There are suggestions that the
police are after Mpofu and his three
co-accused because they were compiling
a dossier that would reveal massive
corruption by some senior government
officials.
The lawyer said the case of Mpofu and others has also been
rolled over to
Wednesday.
Chimbga said: “Again the State stated it
was not ready to respond.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 20, 3:54
AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Prominent Zimbabwean rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa
was
set to spend a third night in jail Tuesday after a court adjourned a
hearing
on charges she faces of allegedly obstructing justice.
Police
brought her to court after ignoring a judge’s order to release her
Monday.
Her arrest, the day after a referendum on a new Zimbabwe
constitution,
prompted an outcry from African and international law
organizations.
“Her arrest is not just an attack on her profession but on
the people of
Zimbabwe who have just voted yes to a new constitution that
enshrines
fundamental human rights,” said her lawyer, Thabani
Mpofu.
Mtetwa, arrested Sunday while representing four officials of the
prime
minister’s party being searched by police, arrived at the Harare
magistrate’s
court in an open-back police truck. She greeted colleagues and
activists
with a spirited wave but was not allowed to speak to
reporters.
In court, state prosecutors alleged the four officials in
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s office, including his chief legal
advisor, were
compiling information, some of it in breach of official
secrets laws, to
discredit the nation’s judicial officials for allegedly not
prosecuting
corrupt politicians.
Mtetwa’s arrest was a ploy to stop
her from defending officials of
Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change
party, her attorney argued in
court Tuesday.
State prosecutors
objected to bail for Mtetwa and the officials and Gofa
adjourned the court
to resume Wednesday.
Mtetwa was led by prison officials to the basement
cells of the courthouse
for transportation to the main Harare remand
prison.
Mtetwa’s arrest was “patently senseless” at a time when she
wanted to act on
behalf of suspects on Sunday, argued Mpofu, her
lawyer.
“Her intimidation was of unwarranted proportion which reflects
badly on our
institutions,” he said.
She was abused by the police in
“the high-handed manner in which they
treated her by handcuffing her and
throwing her into the back of an open
truck as if she was a threat to police
and national security,” Mpofu said.
While in custody, police confiscated
her mobile phone and went through it in
breach of norms of attorney-client
confidentiality.
“There is no basis to act in such a manner to a lawyer
of over 30 years,”
said her lawyer.
He said when locked in a cell two
male police officers at around midnight
even tried to remove prison-issue
blankets from her.
To the charge she shouted at police officers and
attempted to prevent them
from doing their duty, Mtetwa, in her written
testimony, said she told the
police she wanted to see their search warrants
but was ignored.
“What you are doing is unlawful, unconstitutional and
undemocratic,” she
told the officers, Mpofu said.
The police response
was to arrest her, he said.
Justice Charles Hungwe issued an order around
1 a.m.Monday (2300 GMT Sunday)
for arresting officers to immediately release
Mtetwa.
But police refused to obey the order and Mtetwa was still held in
police
cells on Monday.
The action showed that Zimbabwe “is a state
that is prepared to act like an
outlaw,” Mpofu told the
court.
Obstructing justice carries a maximum penalty of two years in
prison.
Mtetwa has represented Tsvangirai and several of his top aides in
past cases
brought against them. She has also defended human rights
defenders and
journalists. She holds an array of international awards,
including those
from the American Bar Association and the main European Bar
Human Rights
body.
By Violet Gonda
19 March
2013
President Robert Mugabe was in Italy on Tuesday for the inauguration mass for Pope Francis, bypassing a travel ban imposed by the European Union, which does not apply to the Vatican City state.
Mugabe, a devout Catholic, travelled to the holy city with his wife Grace, their children and several government officials, a couple of days after the constitutional referendum. The poll was followed by the arrests of a human rights lawyer and political activists a day later.
The Zimbabwean leader is accused of human rights abuses by western governments and in 2005 Prince Charles drew controversy in Britain when he shook hands with him at the funeral of Pope John Paul 11. The Prince’s aides claimed the heir to the throne had been caught by surprise when Mugabe offered his hand during the ceremony at the Vatican.
The president also attended the beatification of the Pope in 2011.
Pope Francis became the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who retired last month at the age of 85.
At 89, Mugabe appears to be still going strong.
“I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” Pope Benedict said, becoming the first Pope to stand down since the Middle Ages.
The MDC-T SA said in a statement: “With those words the then Pope Benedict XVI set in motion a chain of events that has now seen Robert Mugabe in Rome today to attend the inauguration of a new Pope.”
“It is worth remembering that the celebrations in Rome today are as a result of an election. The Pope after all is an elected official. Whilst he is being high and mighty in Rome Mugabe must ask around whether any people died in the election. He will find that none of the Cardinals reported that one of their 12 year old cousins had been petrol bombed as he slept. He might well discover that there was white smoke to signal the happy occasion of the end of the election and not blood on the streets. The thought of an election should not bring the fear into the minds of the electorate.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabweans voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new constitution, in results issued by authorities on Tuesday, paving the way for elections.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
12:57
HARARE - South African President Jacob Zuma wants a Sadc team to be
stationed in Zimbabwe as Harare heads for make-or-break elections expected
as early as July.
In a report to the Sadc Troika on politics, defence
and security cooperation
meeting attended by Zimbabwean government leaders
early this month, Zuma
said Sadc needs to be more robust and to “be based in
that country to make
follow-ups and deal with issues as they
arise”.
“Differences over the role of observers need to be resolved and
the Sadc
guidelines as well as the laws of Zimbabwe should be the baseline,”
said
Zuma.
“Observers should be on site well before the elections and
for some period
thereafter.”
He called for full implementation of the
power-sharing pact widely known as
the Global Political Agreement
(GPA).
“It is extremely urgent that all matters agreed upon in terms of
the GPA are
implemented speedily so that adequate preparations are made for
a level
playing field for the forthcoming elections,” Zuma’s report
reads.
“Without the above steps, it will be difficult to envisage
elections taking
place under conditions that are free and fair,” reads the
report.
The South African leader, who has at times come under attack from
Zanu PF
hawks for tough mediation, was appointed by Sadc as its point
man.
At a time when military commanders’ penchant for interference in
political
affairs is high, Zuma torched a raw nerve that could earn him
brick-bats
from Mugabe’s Zanu PF.
“Security sector realignment cannot
be postponed any longer,” Zuma said in
the report.
“In this regard,
Jomic (the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee)
needs to be
activated as a matter of priority. The facilitation team
supplemented by
representatives of Tanzania and Zambia must be enabled to
participate
actively in Jomic. Namibia as a member and incoming chair of the
Troika
should now be included.
“Without the above two key points (security
sector and Jomic activation) it
will be difficult to ensure there is no
intimidation and that violence is
not allowed to escalate if and when it
occurs,” he said.
Zuma’s report also highlighted the need to clean the
voter’s roll.
With the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announcing
referendum results showing
huge support for the draft constitution, Zuma
said Zimbabwe should craft a
clear poll roadmap within a month of the
referendum.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By
Nomalanga Moyo
19 March 2013
Four MDC-T supporters arrested in
Kwekwe last week Friday have been
released, after the state said charges
against them were unclear and refused
to prosecute.
The lawyer for
the four, Reginald Chidawanyika, told SW Radio Africa that
the police
indicated they will proceed by way of summons once they had
completed
further investigations.
The activists, Searchmore Muringani, Alex Senge,
Malvin Chivhu and Ngoni
Tinarwo, were hauled before Kwekwe Magistrates Court
on Monday accused of
assaulting two ZANU-PF youths.
The youths
gate-crashed an MDC-T rally addressed by party secretary-general
Tendai Biti
at Mbizo 4 suburb on March 13th, leading to the alleged assault.
But the
case against the four stalled after head of prosecution at the
magistrates’
court indicated the matter could not proceed as the charges
were unclear and
full of contradictions, Chidawanyika told the press
Thursday.
The two
ZANU-PF youths, Blessing Chikwira and Libson Jaure, were also
arrested and
remain in custody on charges of disorderly conduct in a public
place. They
will appear in court Wednesday.
Chikwira and Jaure have alleged links to
terror group Al Shabaab, a ZANU PF
militia squad that carries out violent
campaigns against the party’s
perceived foes.
Meanwhile in an
increasingly common trend at election times, a group of
about 20 suspected
soldiers based in Chipinge on Sunday assaulted an MDC-T
parliamentary
hopeful Livingstone Vulume.
The soldiers, from Joko 2 Brigade, kicked and
dragged Vulume on a gravel
road for being an opposition
activist.
MDC-T spokesperson for Manicaland province, Pishai Muchauraya,
confirmed the
attack to the NewsDay newspaper and said Vulume sustained
bruises all over
the body as a result.
Muchauraya also said that the
same soldiers attacked another activist,
Chrispen Rambo, for putting up
“Vote Yes” posters ahead of last Saturday’s
referendum.
Kwekwe Member
of Parliament for the MDC-T, Settlement Chikwinya, said while
his party is
now used to arrests, acts of harassment and intimidation by
ZANU PF, it is
the use of state security personnel that is particularly
worrying.
Chikwinya said: “In the case of the four Kwekwe activists,
the police
arrested them without carrying out proper investigations. This is
not just a
case of incompetence, but a calculated move to frustrate and
instill fear in
our supporters.
“And when the police say they will
proceed by way of summons the aim is to
ensure that the four live in
constant fear of being re-arrested. This is
intimidation,” he
added.
Chikwinya revealed how soldiers beat up MDC-T supporters at a
rally in
Zhombe last month. He said acts of violence committed by Zimbabwe’s
security
forces are set to rise as the harmonised general elections draw
nearer.
His comments come in the wake of reports that military personnel
and central
intelligence officers on Monday were seen around the offices of
The
Zimbabwean newspaper. The paper suspects this is linked to a story it
published last week, amid revelations that the paper’s editor had received
suspicious ‘unknown’ calls.
Earlier this month, police arrested Radio
Dialogue’s Zenzele Ndebele as part
of an ongoing crackdown on independent
radio stations. Ndebele was told the
police will ‘proceed by way of
summons’, a situation which he said is meant
to inconvenience and intimidate
him.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com
Jonga
Kandemiri
18.03.2013
WASHINGTON DC — Staff members at the
privately-owned The Zimbabwean
newspaper went into hiding Monday following
suspicious phone calls to news
editor Tawanda Majoni.
Media alerts
also say that suspicious-looking people were seen around their
offices
resulting in them deserting their offices out of fear.
Majoni told VOA
Studio 7 that a suspicious caller demanded to talk to a
reporter who wrote a
story the newspaper published last week about the
Zimbabwe national defence
forces commander Constantine Chiwenga allegedly
agreeing to rein-in a senior
Central Intelligence Organization operative
based in Mutare.
Majoni
said the caller wanted to meet the reporter either at the Jameson
Hotel in
Harare or at their offices alleging he wanted to give them more
information
on the story.
The caller, who identified himself as Moyo, refused to give
him the details
over the phone.
Media Institute of Southern
Africa-Zimbabwe chapter and the Zimbabwe Union
of Journalists, ZUJ have both
released media alerts over the issue.
ZUJ secretary general Foster
Dongozi said their lawyers are on stand-by just
in case.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
19/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
AN MDC-T supporter has been charged with attempted murder and
malicious
injury to property over a petrol bomb attack on the home of a Zanu
PF
aspiring councillor in Headlands, Manicaland.
Samson Magumura,
earlier said to have been “abducted” from his home by the
MDC-T, was
arrested on Saturday over the March 12 incident.
William Chapape – vying
for a council seat in Ward 12 – woke up after a ball
of fire landed feet
from his bedroom.
On opening the door, he noticed a 5-litre plastic container
on fire, picked
it up and threw it away. But investigators say a mystery man
– now
identified as Magumura – picked it up and hurled it back at Chapepa
whose
clothes caught fire from the petrol spray.
He was treated for
serious burns at Rusape Hospital.
On Monday, Rusape magistrate Shingi
Mutiro remanded him in custody to April
5.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
by Blondie Ndebele 10 hours 54 minutes
ago
THE Friends of Zapu Trust (FoZapu) had to change the
venue for a launch of
the organisation’s chapter in Johannesburg, South
Africa, on Sunday after
elements suspected to be members of Zapu disrupted
the meeting, it has been
learnt.
In an interview yesterday, FoZapu
secretary Mbonisi Gumbo said the launch
was supposed to take place at
Yeoville Recreation Centre, but they had to
move to a local hotel after some
people believed to be ex-Zipra combatants
threatened to stop
it.
“There were some people who tried to stop the meeting,” he said. “A
lot of
people had come to support us, but the ex-Zipra guys did not want the
launch
to take place.”
Gumbo said they believed some senior Zapu
officials were behind the
disruption as the party is on record distancing
itself from FoZapu. Zapu
leader Dumiso Dabengwa issued a statement
condemning the formation of
FoZapu, which he said was an attempt to create
parallel structures to his
party.
But contacted for comment
yesterday, Dabengwa said he did not know anything
about the launch of FoZapu
in South Africa except what “has been written in
papers”.
Zapu
alternate secretary-general Strike Mkandla distanced his party from the
disturbances.
“All we have done is to clarify that they are doing
their own thing and they
are not endorsed by Zapu itself,” he
said.
“I didn’t even know they were launching anything in South Africa
and how
could we have stopped them when we don’t have formal links with
them.”
FoZapu was formed last month by mainly suspended and expelled
members of
Zapu. - NewsDay
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
19 March
2013
Zimbabweans in the UK have urged the British Prime Minister David
Cameron to
impose a moratorium on the deportation of Zim nationals, because
of
increasing levels of violence and intimidation back home.
This
call has been made by the UK based Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR)
group,
which has warned Cameron in a letter that violence is on the rise.
The group
cited the “disturbing campaign” of police harassment of civic
groups in
Zimbabwe as well as increasing violence.
“The MDC party of Morgan
Tsvangirai has submitted a dossier to the Southern
African Development
Community detailing 120 incidents of violence in the
past few months. We
expect the situation to worsen as polling approaches
because President
Mugabe’s ZANU PF thugs are given impunity by the police to
terrorise
opponents,” ROHR said in its letter to Prime Minister Cameron.
ROHR
spokesperson Fungayi Mabhunu told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that many
Zimbabwean exiles are living in fear in the UK, because of the threat of
being deported.
He also warned that there are growing reports of
abuse at the hands of UK
Border Agency officials, with some Zimbabwean
deportees being sedated during
attempts to forcibly remove them from the
country.
“We are deeply disturbed by allegations that deportees to
Zimbabwe are being
threatened with sedation to facilitate their forced
removal from the UK. We
are also concerned by the practice of detaining
asylum seekers when they
sign-in as required by law. We believe this
approach discourages compliance
and instead drives the frightened asylum
seeker under the radar and possibly
into crime,” Mabhunu said.
“We
beg the UK government to seriously consider deferring deportations to
Zimbabwe to at least 6 months after the planned 2013 elections which we
believe will be, like those before them, violent,” Mabhunu said.
http://nehandaradio.com
on March 18, 2013 at 4:42
pm
This is an update provided by Roseline Zigomo
In the
early hours of Sunday, the 17th of March 2013, at around 6.00am,
three
police officers descended at the home of Thabani Mpofu, a Principal
Director
in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa
2. The
police officers searched Thabani Mpofu’s house without producing a
search
warrant or specifying what they were looking for or what crime had
been
committed.
3. They searched the house for three to four hours, during
which time, the
Office of the Prime Minister had instructed Beatrice Mtetwa
to be Thabani
Mpofu’s legal representative during the search.
4. When
Beatrice Mtetwa arrived at Thabani Mpofu’s residence, she asked the
police
if they had a search warrant. The police officers told her they had
one and
would only show it once they had completed their search. They then
arrested
Beatrice Mtetwa on charges of obstructing justice.
5. At the end of the
period of the search, they took cameras, a laptop,
other electronic
equipment, and documents from Thabani Mpofu’s home.
6. During the search
of Thabani Mpofu’s house, other police officers were
also searching the
homes of Felix Matsinde and Anna Muzvidziwa, who are
employed in the Office
of the Prime Minister; as well as the home of Warship
Dumba, an MDC-T
Councillor.
7. The police had also tried to arrest Mehluli Tshuma,
another officer
employed in the Office of the Prime Minister, but he was in
church at the
time when they came to his house.
8. The police
officers then arrested Thabani Mpofu and took him and Beatrice
Mtetwa to the
Prime Minister’s office situated in Bath Road. There they were
joined by
other officers, not less than eight, and the other co-accused
persons: Felix
Matsinde, Anna Muzvidziwa and Warship Dumba, who were present
during the
search of the Bath offices. Mehluli Tshuma who had also by this
time been
arrested joined the rest of the group at the Bath offices.
9. On the
arrest of Beatrice Mtetwa, the OPM had instructed Chris Mhike,
Alec
Muchedahama and Jeramiah Bamu to represent the group. The lawyers went
to
the Bath offices to witness the search.
10. After the search of the Bath
offices, the police then took the accused
persons to Harare Central Police
Station, where they were held for long
hours being questioned, without any
formal charges being put to them.
11. Very late on Sunday evening, 17
March, Thabani Mpofu was then
transferred to Highlands Police Station; Felix
Matsinde and Beatrice Mtetwa
were taken to Rhodesville Police Station;
Warship Dumba and Mehluli Tshuma
were taken to Braeside Police Station. Anna
Muzvidziwa was initially kept at
Harare Central Police Station, but she was
later released in the custody of
Alec Muchedahama, one of the legal
team.
12. The group were detained overnight without charges being
proffered
against them. They have been in custody now for more than 36
hours.
13. The Prime Minister, late on Sunday night the 17th March, met
with a team
of SADC Observers led by Dr. Salamao, the Executive Secretary of
SADC.
14. The Prime Minister expressed to the observers his serious
concerns over
the arrest of persons in his employ on unspecified charges,
which he
regarded as a direct attack on his office at a time when the whole
world had
just witnessed a successful and generally peaceful Referendum. The
Prime
Minister said that this would cast a huge shadow on the
Referendum.
15. The SADC Observer team took note of the
arrests.
16. In the morning of Monday, 18 March 2013, the Prime Minister
met with the
Acting President, Hon. Joyce Mujuru where similar concerns were
raised.
17. While the matter is going through the legal processes, which
should be
followed both in letter and spirit, the political implications of
this
attack on an Executive office are clear for all to see.
Harare, 18 March 2013
These are trying times for my Office after five
members of my staff were picked up in shocking circumstances at their homes
yesterday morning.
To date, we remain unclear as to the motive and agenda
of this blitz on the Prime Minister’s Office through this arrest of our staff
members who worked at our Communications office in Avondale.
A former
councillor, Warship Dumba and renowned lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, were also picked
up yesterday in the same blitz for as yet undisclosed reasons.
Mtetwa was
arrested for allegedly obstructing the course of justice even though she was
arrested while executing her duty as a lawyer.
I understand that despite
a High Court order being granted for her release, the police have ignored the
order, in breach of the Constitution and in total disregard to the rule of
law.
I notice from some press reports that our Communications Office in
Avondale is now being referred to as the office of some non-governmental
organization. The motive for that is certainly sinister.
As we speak, our
detained staff members and their lawyers are yet to be told of the charges they
are facing, even though the ZBC and the police press and public relations unit
are telling the world that they are facing charges of impersonation, without
elaboration.
Our officers are still to be charged and our police force
should investigate to arrest and not arrest to investigate.
This morning,
I met with the acting President, Amai Mujuru, to update her on this needless
swoop on my Office as well as the attempt to stop the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption
Commission from executing its Constitutional mandate.
I expressed concern
on both the police behaviour on my staff and what is now appearing to be a
well-orchestrated move to prevent an independent Commission from doing its
work.
The Acting President assured me she would meet with the
Commissioner- General of Police.
The targeting of my Office is
reprehensible and is meant to harass and intimidate the nation ahead of the
election, now that we are done with the referendum.
Last night, I met
with the SADC observer team, led by Dr Salamao and I impressed upon the region,
as guarantors of our agreement, to ensure that we implement all the reforms that
we agreed four years ago, particularly security sector and media
reforms.
I urged the observer team to go and see our staff in detention
and to make their own assessment of the current environment and to draw up their
own conclusions as to whether as a country we are ready for a free and fair
election.
We certainly cannot have a police force that arrests people
with impunity and then fails to charge them, even though the alleged charges
have been told to the media.
We cannot tolerate this unwarranted arrest
of innocent staff of an executive office by the police, who then fail to charge
them.
We are working hard to improve the electoral environment to make it
conducive to a free and fair election, even in the wake of the recent heinous
acts, ranging from the murder of Christpowers to this wanton and undignified
arrest of innocent staff in my Office, including a breastfeeding mother, Anna
Muzvidziwa, who was picked up at church yesterday.
What we are seeing are
signs of fear.
These are signs of a police force that has become an
appendage of a political party, which party is now showing signs of panic and
fear in light of the imminent prospects of losing the forthcoming
election.
When I spoke to the SADC observer team last night, I told them
that now is the time to call for an urgent SADC summit to check on compliance
and implementation of agreed issues and to set the ground rules for a peaceful
and civilized electoral contest.
SADC is a curator and guarantor of the
GPA and now is the time for the region to play a more active part in charting
the way forward.
My thoughts are with our detained staff
members.
My thoughts are with their families as well as with the people
of Zimbabwe, who remain the true victors because in 2008, they defeated in an
election this demon of violence and repression which is now rearing its ugly
head again.
I thank you.
--
MDC
Information & Publicity Department
Harvest House
44 Nelson Mandela
Ave
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel: 00263 4 770 708
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
University of Zimbabwe Economics Professor of Economics, Tony Hawkins, has dismissed this weekend’s referendum on a new constitution as a non-event, arguing the exercise merely rubberstamps what is essentially an agreement between the three parties to the coalition government. Professor Hawkins spoke to The Voice of Russia ahead of Saturday’s referendum Question: What is your
feeling, what are the principle questions that stay keen in the
referendum?
Hawkins: All the signs are that it will be something of a non-event because the three political parties who drafted the constitution have all supported it and there is no active campaign against its acceptance. There are certainly civil society organisations who have opposed it, but there is no organised campaign and it seems quite clear that it will go through with very little opposition, with probably very apathetic electorate and a very low turnout of less than 20%, if not less, of the voters. Question: So, to some extent this will be almost a rubberstamping exercise to produce what has already been agreed among the main parties? Hawkins: Very much so.
It is a rubber-stamping exercise. There are critics of it who say that it still
leaves too much power in the hands of an executive president. On the business
side there is criticism that increasing the size of the Parliament by about a
third is unnecessary and very expensive in the country which is struggling to
finance its payments. Question: Have the Western governments been pushing for this referendum or are they just pushing for the fact that it should be seen to be managed very well? Hawkins: Well, it was
always agreed in the agreement that was signed by the parties in 2008, it was
always agreed that there would be a referendum once a new constitution was drawn
up. And, on a number of occasions, some Western governments have tried lifting
these personal targeted sanctions and linking that to a free and fair election
or a free and fair referendum, or whatever. Now most of these sanctions have
been lifted anyway, so it’s not really a big issue. Question: So, it’s likely to be passed but there is a strong perception that there is not a fully democratic mandate for it which to some extent weakens the perception. Hawkins: I think that fails if you see a democratic mandate as at least 20% of the population. But we all know that of course in the European Union for instance you had many elections with very low turnouts for the European Parliament that I’m sure people would just ignore the problem and press ahead with the elections. Question: You’ve mentioned the case of sanctions being lifted and that most of those sanctions have been lifted anyway. Are there European or Western companies coming into Zimbabwe already to buy up, to do business or to take advantage? Hawkins: Not really. I think there is still a residual nervousness ahead of the elections and this has to do with the Government’s so-called indigenisation policy which is demanding that the majority ownership of all companies must be held by local Zimbabweans. In other words foreign firms are not allowed majority ownership and that probably is the reason why foreign businesses, particularly Western businesses, are staying out. Chinese businesses are quite active here. There are some from Russia and Ukraine, and India, and countries like that. But the Western businesses who have pretty much been the ones targeted by the Government here have tended to be pretty cautious. Question: As it stands with the status quo this is not something that is likely to change so much because of this situation that’s built up. Hawkins: That’s
right. |
http://www.guardian.co.uk
The low turnout means
Zimbabwe's constitution could end up being another
chance for Mugabe's
Zanu-PF to laugh at the law
Petina Gappah
The Guardian, Monday
18 March 2013 21.00 GMT
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe,
casts his vote in Harare in the
constitution referendum. Photograph: Xinhua
/Landov / Barcroft Media
'If I vote yes in the referendum," an old woman from
Gutu in rural Zimbabwe
said to her son, "will that mean that I am saying yes
to Robert Mugabe? And
if I vote no, am I voting no to Morgan Tsvangirai?" In
Zimbabwe, the process
of voting on a new constitution cannot be separated
from the personalities
that dominate Zimbabwe's politics.
A key
component of the agreement that brought together Zimbabwe's feuding
political parties in a unity government in 2008 was a new constitution to be
put to the public vote. On Saturday Zimbabweans had that vote. The
state-owned Sunday Mail, which greets all government initiatives with
unbridled enthusiasm, reported that "most polling stations recorded high
voter turnouts". As of writing, the count was still going on, but it was
clear that just over 2 million people – less than a third of the 6.6 million
registered voters – had taken part. The key feature of this referendum was
voter apathy.
In terms of the outcome, this will not matter: only a
simple majority is
required. But Lovemore Madhuku of the National
Constitutional Assembly,
which has campaigned against the constitution,
argues that a turnout of less
than 50% would amount to a rejection of the
constitution. His principled and
determined campaign received little
publicity, but it had strong arguments.
There are certainly some
troubling compromises in the constitution. During
its first 10 years, if a
president died or resigned from office, the party
of that president would
choose the new president, meaning that Zimbabwe
could well end up with a
president that no one had voted for. A strengthened
constitutional court is
weakened by a provision that in the first 10 years
it is to be composed of
the current judges of the discredited supreme court.
On the charged issue of
land ownership, the constitution falls far short of
international norms of
non-discrimination. Compensation for expropriated
land will depend on
whether land belonged to someone "indigenous" – a not
particularly subtle
code for black.
The no campaign also objected to the constitution-making
process.
Politicians promised it would be "people-driven", but the
constitution has
been negotiated only by the parties in parliament. The
"people" have been
asked to rubber-stamp the process once only now the
politicians are done
with it, and even that rubber-stamping is problematic:
a reported 90,000
copies of the final draft were printed for the 6.6 million
voters – who had
less than four weeks to read it.
There are, however,
strong arguments in the constitution's favour. The most
significant change
to the presidency would be the introduction of term
limits. Considering that
most Zimbabweans – the under-30s – have only ever
known one leader, this
would be a radical change.
The constitution also addresses the
citizenship woes of the millions of
disenfranchised Zimbabweans born in the
country to parents from Malawi,
Zambia, Mozambique and elsewhere who are
currently labelled "aliens".
The constitution is particularly strong
where it puts the aspirations of
ordinary Zimbabweans at the centre of
government. A strengthened bill of
rights obliges the state to put the
empowerment of women and girls ahead of
regressive cultural practices; makes
significant inroads into the death
penalty; forbids all forms of torture;
guarantees freedom of expression and
belief; and imposes obligations on the
state to take steps to ensure access
to shelter, health education, food and
legal aid.
A constitution, however, depends on a culture of
constitutionalism – of
respect for the constitution and adherence to its
terms. The yes vote will
almost certainly pass, and Zimbabwe will get its
new constitution, but a low
turnout will suggest that Zimbabweans may be a
long way from
constitutionalism.
Moreover, new elections are supposed
to follow the referendum. A low turnout
in those elections would be bad news
for the Movement for Democratic Change
and the smaller parties who rely on
their supporters to go voluntarily to
the polls in large numbers. However,
it would be good news for Zanu-PF,
which has always prevailed even when
losing a vote.
A Zanu-PF win in the elections will be bad for
constitutionalism, as the
party has not hesitated to trample on the
constitution when it feels its
power slipping away. The recent arrests of
civil society activists and
lawyers attest to this disregard of the rule of
law. If Zanu-PF wins yet
again, the constitution that was supposed to be
Zimbabwe's new supreme law
may end up being nothing more than another law to
be discarded by Zanu-PF.
And the losers will be ordinary Zimbabweans like my
friend's mother in
Gutu – let down once again by the politicians.
(Johannesburg) – The government of Zimbabweshould immediately end the police crackdown on civil society groups, which has intensified as the country prepares for national elections.
A referendum on March 16, 2013, for a new constitution under the Global Political Agreement for a power-sharing government between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) paves the way for elections later in the year.
“Police harassment and arrests of civil society activists has worsened as elections get closer,” saidTiseke Kasambala, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to stop this police abuse of power and hold those responsible to account.”
Since December 2012, the ZANU-PF controlled police have carried out an apparent campaign of politically motivated abuses against civil society activists and organizations, Human Rights Watch said.
On March 17, 2013, police arrested prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa in Harare and charged her with obstructing the course of justice. She remains in detention despite a high court order on March 18 ordering her release. The arrest came after Mtetwa attempted, in the course of her duties as a lawyer, to offer legal assistance to four employees from the prime minister's office whom the police also arrested on March 17. The four employees from the prime minister's office remain in detention and have not been charged.
On March 8 in Harare, Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was charged with leading an unregistered organization under the Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) Act, and with smuggling radios and mobile phones into the country in violation of the Broadcasting Services Act and the Customs and Excise Act. The charges under the PVO Act violate the right to freedom of association, while the other charges appear to be a politically motivated attempt to curtail the group’s human rights work.
On February 15, police arbitrarily arrested and detained George Makoni, an employee of the Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ), and a local pastor for organizing a church meeting in Chegutu, west of Harare. Church meetings do not require any prior notice. Makoni and the pastor were later released without charge.
On February 13 and 14, police in Harare and Bulawayo forcibly disrupted the annual Valentine's Day “love” protests by about 190 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). The police arrested, detained, and in some cases beat protestors with batons, including the WOZA national coordinator, Jenni Williams. The protesters were released without charge following the intervention of lawyers.
On February 11, in what appears to have been coordinated action, police raided the offices of the National Association of NGOs (NANGO) and Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD) in Masvingo and the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) offices in Harare.
On March 8, the ZANU-PF-controlled Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced that any civil society organization under police investigation would be barred from monitoring the constitutional referendum and elections. This directive would directly affect the main civil society organizations operating in the country, including ZPP, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), Zimbabwe Election Support Network, and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
The recent police actions against civil society groups appear to have had the approval of the highest levels of the police, Human Rights Watch said. At the Senior Police Officers’ Conference in November, attended by country’s top police officers, an official statement was approved noting “with concern the negative influence and subversive activities” of nongovernmental and civil society organizations in the coming referendums.
The statement resolved to “effectively utilize the intelligence units in monitoring the activities” of organizations; “maintain records of all [organizations] operating in their areas;” “[e]ngage the leaders of these organizations in respect to their activities;” and “[t]ake appropriate action against [organizations] that are found to be operating outside the provisions of the law.”
A similar resolution was approved at the ZANU-PF annual conference in December and attended by all security chiefs. ZANU-PF also resolved to “instruct the party to ensure that government enforces the de-registration of errant [organizations] deviating from their mandate.”
Soon after these statements were approved, the police began a sustained and apparently systematic campaign to harass and intimidate civil society organizations. On December 13, police raided the offices of ZimRights and arrested four people, including one of the organization’s staff. A month later, on January 14, police arrested the ZimRights national director, Okay Machisa, ostensibly in his capacity as director of the organization, on charges relating to a voter registration campaign. Machisa spent over two weeks in detention before being released on bail.
On January 18, the ZANU-PF minister for youth and indigenization, Saviour Kasukuwere, formally approved regulations requiring all youth organizations to be registered with the Zimbabwe Youth Council or to be banned. Under these regulations, no youth organization may receive funding without authorization from the youth council and all members or affiliates of registered youth organizations are required to pay exorbitant annual levies to the youth council. These regulations are likely to cripple the operations of youth organizations throughout the country.
In Bulawayo in January, police arrested and otherwise harassed over 40 members of the National Youths for Democracy Trust after the group began a campaign to encourage citizens to register to vote.
“The systematic police campaign against civil society organizations appears designed to disrupt civil society operations and stop them from the important work of monitoring the human rights environment ahead of the elections,” Kasambala said. “The government of Zimbabwe should respect and protect space for unfettered civil society operations.”
Human Rights Watch urged the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to press the Zimbabwean government to permit civil society organizations to be allowed to operate freely without government harassment as a crucial part of creating an environment conducive to holding credible, free, and fair elections.
“Zimbabwe’s authorities cannot expect to create a rights-respecting environment ahead of elections in the context of repression, harassment, and intimidation of civil society activists,” Kasambala said.
http://blogs.ft.com
Mar 19, 2013 4:16pm by Tony
Hawkins
On its own, the overwhelming “Yes” vote in Zimbabwe’s referendum
on a new
constitution means little.
Indeed, it is no more than the
first act of a drama that will unfold over
the next few months as the
country moves towards presidential and
parliamentary elections that will
determine whether the economy maintains
its recovery momentum or slides back
into political-driven stagnation.
Some 95 per cent of the 3.2m people who
voted supported the new
constitution, but because the three political
parties that make up the
coalition government campaigned for it, the result
is not a meaningful
indicator of future voter intentions. On the face of it,
when it comes to
the elections, there will be a straightforward call between
president Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC.
The choice is stark. In the final ten years of Mugabe’s 28-year
political
monopoly in Zimbabwe (1980-2008), GDP plunged 45 per cent and
income per
head fell to its lowest level in half a century. The coalition
between Zanu
and the MDC that took office at the start of 2009 has reversed
the slide and
GDP has grown 7.5 per cent annually, though this recovery is
mostly
attributable to the country’s forced dollarisation in 2009.
If
Tsvangerai wins the presidency and parliamentary majority later this
year,
foreign firms, especially western ones, can expect a more
investment-friendly business climate in Zimbabwe than if the 89-year-old
Mugabe is returned to office. However, the real threat to business would
come not from the President himself but his hardline supporters, led by
Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, currently
master-minding the country’s business localisation strategy.
He
claims to have completed indigenisation agreements – whereby black
Zimbabweans will own 51 per cent of foreign firms – with mining companies,
Anglo American (Unki Platinum), Zimplat, a subsidiary of South Africa’s
Impala Platinum Mimosa Mining (Platinum) and in industrials, BAT. But no
shares have yet changed hands, because of the vendor finance nature of the
agreements, whereby the new owners will pay for their shares from future
dividends.
As currently structured, these deals are not viable and
even if Mugabe were
to win, the next administration would have to
restructure them. There is no
doubt that most foreign investors would far
rather renegotiate with
Tsvangerai’s team than Mugabe’s, though this might
not apply for some of the
newer emerging market investors from countries
like China, who already have
close links with Zanu-PF.
However, it is
just too simplistic to conclude that Tsvangerai will win at
the polls and
that Zimbabwe will then enjoy an unprecedented economic boom.
The referendum
turnout when 60 per cent of the votes were cast by rural
voters in Mugabe’s
traditional strongholds to 40 per cent by urban voters
might just be a straw
in the wind suggesting that Zanu-PF is making a
political
comeback.
Secondly, the winner of the 2013 poll is unlikely to have an
easy ride
economically. Zimbabwe’s post-dollarisation business model has run
out of
steam. The economy cannot grow rapidly without massive infrastructure
investment which in turn is being held back by an external debt (116 per
cent of GDP), including foreign arrears of some 60 per cent of
GDP.
Without increasing investment as a percentage of GDP from the
current 15 to
at least 25 percent, it will not be possible to reach the
government’s
ambitious 7 per cent annual growth target. Zimbabwe households
are consuming
over 90 per cent of GDP. Domestic savings are negligible and
the country is
almost completely reliant on foreign funds for investment,
which is why it
cannot afford the economic nationalism embodied in Zanu-PF’s
indigenisation
strategy.
Not only are per capita incomes little
different today from their levels of
the mid-1960s, but formal sector
employment of 800,000 people, excluding
agriculture, is quarter of a million
less than in the late 1990s. Moreover,
growth prospects are brightest in
capital-intensive mining, with limited job
creation highlighting the
employment challenge that will face the next
administration.
Because
without substantial foreign capital, sustained economic recovery is
improbable, the next government, Zanu-PF or MDC, will have to rethink
Zimbabwe’s relations with foreign investors. In all probability, Zanu-PF
already recognises this reality, but so long as indigenisation is one of the
few political cards it has to play in the forthcoming elections, it is not
going to discard it until after the polls are closed.
Policy Analysis –
Cato Institute
By Craig J.
Richardson
March 18,
2013
Between 2009 and 2011, Zimbabwe’s GDP growth averaged an impressive 7.3
percent, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing countries. Yet World Bank
governance indicators place Zimbabwe’s government among the world’s worst, and
the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index ranks it as
one of the world’s least economically free countries.
Zimbabwe’s performance coincides with its January 2009 adoption of the
U.S. dollar and South African rand as its official currencies, which swiftly
squelched rampant hyperinflation and stabilized the economy. Yet dollarization
doesn’t explain why the country has been growing faster than Hong Kong, a
territory with a stable currency and one of the freest economies in the
world.
Zimbabwe’s dollarization was accompanied by three significant economic
developments, none of which will foster growth long-term. First, between 2009
and 2011, two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s nominal GDP growth was the result of
increases in government expenditures, augmented by hundreds of millions of
dollars in International Monetary Fund grants and Chinese loans. Second, rich
Western countries dramatically increased their infusions of “off-budget” grants
to Zimbabwe, and this foreign aid now accounts for nearly 9 percent of its GDP.
Third, Zimbabwe’s economy is becoming increasingly dependent on the production
and export of raw mineral commodities, which have experienced rapid worldwide
price hikes.
Zimbabwe’s recent growth rates do not accurately reflect its long-term
economic prospects. Rather, they draw attention away from the country’s
continuing pressing problems, including an inadequate food supply, poor
governance, weakening property rights protection, and a bloated government
sector. Those problems have been unwittingly enabled by Western governments and
the IMF through massive cash infusions, which have given the Zimbabwean
government little incentive to change.
To read the full analysis:
Craig J. Richardson,
Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics and
Coordinator, MBA Program
School of Business and
Economics
R.J. Reynolds Center, Room
109
Winston-Salem State
University
601 Martin Luther King, Jr.
Drive
Winston-Salem, NC
27110
Office phone: (336) 750-2242
http://www.sfgate.com
By MIKE WERESCHAGIN, Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review
Updated 6:41 am, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
ERIE, Pa.
(AP) — In the darkness of Zimbabwe's abandoned mine shafts and
unmarked
graves, the bones hold true to their stories.
Half a world away, in a
classroom at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Shari
Eppel is learning to
listen to them.
Eppel, 52, traveled to Erie from her native Zimbabwe to
study forensic
anthropology, the science of exhuming remains and determining
what happened
to them.
Her country faces an inflection point. Police
on Sunday arrested the
country's top human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa,
and several political
opponents of President Robert Mugabe, a day after an
estimated 2 million
people voted on a constitution that would curb Mugabe's
power.
Mugabe, 89, faces re-election this summer.
As her country
struggles to find its future, Eppel, a psychologist, believes
it must
confront the horrors of its past, including the scars of Mugabe's
brutal
crackdown in the early 1980s.
"You'll find husbands and wives who saw
each other beaten who've never
discussed it with each other. Because there's
no reason. Why would you
suddenly, 15 years later, say, 'Oh by the way, 15
years ago when we were
beaten, this is how I felt about it'?" Eppel
said.
Zimbabwe has no forensic anthropologists to identify and record
victims of
Gukurahundi, the name Mugabe gave to the crackdown. Government
troops killed
20,000 people, mostly civilians in Eppel's native
Matabeleland, according to
United Nations estimates.
Mass graves hide
in plain sight, in shuttered mines and beneath schoolyards,
where relatives
buried their dead at gunpoint, Eppel said. In some cases,
the Fifth Brigade,
Mugabe's North Korean-trained troops, forced family
members to desecrate
fresh graves, she said.
In the decades since, survivors tried to bury
their memories.
"They're so afraid, they're so ashamed, they're so
humiliated by all the
terrible things that happened to them during that time
that they don't ever,
ever talk about it," Eppel said.
Exhuming
remains offers a way to confront those terrifying days, she said.
The
process engages whole villages — a practical necessity, she said, in a
region with 3 million people and four psychoanalysts.
Exhumations
take place but many are indiscriminate, with bones haphazardly
returned to
families without scientific confirmation that they belonged to a
missing
relative nor documentation of how he or she ended up in a mass
grave.
"People think that once you're dead, you can't say anything.
But actually
you can," Eppel said.
In a Nebraska courtroom in early
February, Eppel's Mercyhurst professor,
Steven Symes, testified against John
Oldson in his trial for the 1989 murder
of Catherine Beard. The woman's
bones showed marks from the knife that
killed her. Based partly on Symes'
testimony, the jury convicted Oldson,
whom a judge will sentence in
April.
"There she is, a village girl in Nebraska, saying, 'I was stabbed
in the
back,' 23 years after the event and getting somebody locked up,"
Eppel said.
The American Board of Forensic Anthropology lists only nine
graduate
forensic anthropology programs, including Mercyhurst's. Police
departments
frequently enlist the aid of its professors and graduate
students when they
find long-hidden remains, including remains found Feb. 17
near UPMC
Passavant in Cranberry.
The program admits at most 10
graduate students a year, which nearly
saturates the field's tiny job
market, Symes said.
The school accepted Eppel with the hope of doing more
than educating her,
Symes said.
"She's also here to help our grad
students understand some issues," he said.
Students who grew up in the
United States rarely have firsthand knowledge of
human rights abuses, he
said. Eppel's stories show her classmates how
scientific methods can offer
justice along with answers.
"All we can teach them here is the science,
but you have to have a passion
to go with it," Symes said.
Eppel
plans to return this summer to Zimbabwe and an uncertain future.
"We're
exhuming people the government murdered, and they don't particularly
want us
to do that," Eppel said.
Mugabe has called the Gukurahundi "a moment of
madness," but human rights
groups accuse his regime of continuing to abduct
activists such as Paul
Chizuze, a colleague of Eppel's whose February 2012
disappearance made
headlines worldwide. Police on Sunday ignored a judge's
order to release
Mtetwa, the human rights lawyer, according to the group
Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, where Mtetwa is a board
member.
Eppel said she is learning to "see the healing power of bones,
how
anthropology does literally what therapy does figuratively."
A
properly conducted exhumation can help villagers to dig up the skeletons
of
their past, mourn the dead, bury them properly and move on, she
said.
"The dead aren't really dead in Africa," where people consider
ancestors a
link to God, Eppel said. Damage that link and "your access to
God is
damaged."