http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Petroc Trelawny, the BBC music
presenter arrested in Zimbabwe for failing to
obtain a work permit to
compère at a music festival, is facing prison after
immigration authorities
filed a new charge against him of lying on his visa
application.
The
release of Petroc Trelawny, the BBC Radio 3 presenter arrested for
working
in Zimbabwe without a permit, has been delayed indefinitely after
immigration officials refused to cancel an arrest warrant or give back his
passport.
By Peta Thornycroft and Aislinn Laing in
Johannesburg
5:43PM BST 30 May 2012
The latest development came
just hours after a High Court judge ruled that
Mr Trelawny's passport be
returned to him and he be allowed to leave the
country.
He has been
held in police custody since he was arrested last Thursday while
on stage
with 500 local schoolchildren at the Bulawayo Music Festival, on
suspicion
of working without a permit.
On Monday, Zimbabwe's Attorney General ruled
that Mr Trelawny should not be
prosecuted for failing to obtain a Temporary
Employment Permit since it was
the duty of the academy which invited
him.
But immigration authorities challenged the Attorney General's
decision, and
on Wednesday ordered that he appear before the courts on a new
charge of
violating the conditions of his entry into the country on a
tourist visa.
Friends of Mr Trelawny, 41, who spent the weekend in
hospital under police
guard after slipping and dislocating his shoulder in
his police cell, say he
is bewildered by the continued legal wranglings. He
is determined however to
be exonerated of wrongdoing as he wants to return
to Zimbabwe.
Munyaradzi Ngarayapenga, his lawyer, said he had been
released from hospital
into the custody of a friend.
"He has been
released but immigration is going to prosecute him to stand
trial tomorrow.
He doesn't have his passport. He is now here on a temporary
permit," he
said.
"He is being charged with violating the conditions of his entry, in
other
words he is accused of making a false declaration when he came into
the
country."
If found guilty, Mr Trelawny could be fined up to
£3,200 or a prison
sentence of 10 years. If they want to depot him, they
must secure a
conviction.
The latest development has laid bare fierce
political wranglings between the
government's state security arm – which
backs President Robert Mugabe's Zanu
PF – and ministers from Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change, who run the Arts and
Home Affairs ministries, responsible
for managing visitors'
permits.
David Coltart, the MDC Arts, Culture and Education Minister,
condemned the
treatment of Mr Trelawny "in the strongest possible
terms".
"This is outrageous conduct by the Department of Immigration and
is
seriously damaging to Zimbabwe's international reputation," he
said.
"It undermines the efforts of many of us who are trying to persuade
the
Europeans and North Americans to engage with us."
Theresa Makone,
the MDC Home Affairs Minister, said the immigration
authorities had "no
right" to insist on Mr Trelawny's continued detention.
"As far as I am
concerned, he has committed no offence. It's not his
business to get a TEP
but in any case, it's not a matter of life and death
whether he had one or
not because he was not working for profit, he was
working as a volunteer to
assist under-privileged children."
A Harare lawyer with expertise in
immigration issues said Home Affairs would
have little sway over those
driving Mr Trelawny's prosecution.
"The immigration department has
enormous powers," he said. "They can conduct
their own investigations. There
are people who have been in remand prison in
Harare for years on immigration
offences. This case is quite extraordinary
given that the attorney-general
declined to prosecute."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
30 May 2012
This week’s SADC summit, which begins on Thursday
in Luanda, Angola, will
focus particularly on the next steps Zimbabwe will
take before elections can
be held, a top SADC official has said.
The
regional bloc has found itself in the middle of a political tug-of-war
between ZANU PF on the one side and the two MDC formations on the other,
over the timing of the next election in Zimbabwe.
ZANU PF’s Robert
Mugabe insists elections have to be held before the end of
this year, while
his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai says they can only be
held next year and
after the necessary reforms have been implemented.
Leaders from 15 SADC
states, including the principals to the GPA will attend
the summit to
discuss regional issues. But the crisis in Zimbabwe will once
again come
under the spotlight following recent pronouncements by Mugabe
that he will
call for fresh polls this year, with or without a new
constitution. This is
according to a SADC official who spoke to SW Radio
Africa on
Wednesday.
Zimbabwe will also be on the agenda of the SADC Troika on
Politics, Defence
and Security on Thursday. A full SADC summit on Friday
will then get a
briefing of the Troika findings from South African
President, Jacob Zuma,
who chairs this tripartite grouping.
Zuma’s
facilitation team was in Harare on Monday in meeting with GPA
negotiators.
SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that part of what was
discussed between
the negotiators and the facilitation team will form Zuma’s
report to the
summit.
Talks between the parties had stalled following disagreements on
the timing
of new elections and sharp differences that emerged from the
drafting of a
new constitution.
SW Radio Africa understands that
Zuma’s team was told a final draft of the
new constitution could be ready by
this Friday, clearing the stumbling block
in crafting the election
roadmap.
“All Zuma was waiting for all along was the completion of a
draft
constitution. Now with guarantees that a draft of the new charter
could be
in place by the end of this week is a critical milestone in the
next step
towards a responsible ending of this long drawn crisis in
Zimbabwe,” a
source said.
Analysts however don’t think SADC will let
Mugabe call for elections before
a referendum is held and the adoption of a
new constitution is in place.
“The most important issue is for SADC to
respect its own commitments, for
instance, the appointment of the 3 member
team to work with JOMIC and their
insistence for Mugabe to make democratic
reforms ahead of new elections,”
the source added.
In March last
year, the Troika issued a unusually sharp rebuke to Mugabe,
demanding an end
to political violence and insisting that reforms promised
in the GPA are
implemented.
http://www.voanews.com/
29 May
2012
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington
Political analysts and
ordinary Zimbabweans are looking to the forthcoming
Southern African
Development Community summit set for Angola beginning of
June to see if
regional leaders can make headway in dealing with outstanding
Global
Political Agreement issues affecting the shaky coalition government
in
Harare.
Of particular importance is SADC's response to pleas by President
Robert
Mugabe, who's seeking support from his colleagues to call elections
that
will bring to an end the uneasy inclusive government that has been in
place
since 2009.
South African President Jacob Zuma, SADC mediator
in Harare, on Monday
dispatched his facilitation team to Zimbabwe ahead of a
SADC troika meeting
that will hear from all three political parties in the
government on
elections. After the troika meeting, Heads of State will meet
in summit to
discuss issues that include regional integration and Zimbabwe,
among other
issues.
Harare insists that Zimbabwe is not on the summit
agenda.
Sources privy to Monday's discussions between political party
negotiators
and the facilitation team led by Mr. Zuma’s international
relations adviser,
Lindiwe Zulu, said there were complaints all around about
the slow pace of
the Zuma-led talks in Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF, led by
Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, insisted on holding of
elections this
year.
But the two MDC formations in the coalition told the facilitators
that
election talk in the absence of key democratic reforms was causing
political
temperatures to rise unnecessarily in the country.
They
urged the facilitators to put pressure on President Mugabe to implement
agreed positions, adding he should also tone down his election
rhetoric.
But Zanu PF sources said Mr. Mugabe will make a pitch to his
SADC colleagues
to support his push for elections this year even without a
new constitution
or key democratic reforms in place.
Pretoria
sources, though, say Mr. Zuma is not falling for it.
The Zanu PF-leaning
Herald newspaper denied Tuesday that Zimbabwe will be on
the agenda of the
SADC Summit, questioning Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's logic to travel
to Luanda for a “Head of States” meeting.
But Zuma’s adviser Zulu
confirmed to VOA's Blessing Zulu, without divulging
much about her team's
Monday visit to Harare, that Zimbabwe will be
discussed at the
summit.
Regional coordinator Dewa Mavhinga of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition said
Mr. Zuma must continue to insist on reforms in Harare before
elections can
be called.
Meanwhile, the three political parties in
the inclusive government have
since Monday worked with legal experts to
audit the draft constitution
against views collected from the public and
documents handed over to
drafters.
The MDC formation of Prime
Minister Tsvangirai seconded lawyers Shepherd
Mushonga and Innocent Gonese
to the team, while Zanu PF sent Freddy Gijima
and the Welshman Ncube MDC is
represented by Josphat Tshuma. The attorneys
are working with the select
committee writing the country’s new governing
charter to tie-up lose
ends.
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga
told VOA's
Jonga Kandemiiri the team has so far covered close to 10 out of
17 chapters.
But he added devolution remained an unresolved issue.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/
Eyewitness News Today,
17:23
ZIMBABWE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday had to
cut short a
state visit to China in order to attend an urgent Southern
African
Development Community (SADC) meeting in Angola.Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) insiders said the unexpected meeting could indicate
that SADC
wants to get tough on Zimbabwe. As a result, Tsvangirai
ended his visit
two days early. The Organ on Politics, Defence and
Security will meet
on Thursday for an "unexpected
meeting".</p><p>On Tuesday, state media said
Zimbabwe was not on
the agenda. Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe's
party said that
holding polls in 2012 was the logical conclusion to the
coalition deal
between Zanu-PF and the MDC. But last week, United
Nations Human
Rights Envoy Navi Pillay warned that reforms had to be
implemented before
the country heads to the polls
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 20 hours 24 minutes
ago
BEIJING,-- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Zimbabwe Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai and highlighted the traditional friendship between the two
peoples and the solid foundation laid between the two political
communities.
China is willing to further assist Zimbabwe in fields
including education,
public health, agriculture and energy and encourage
Chinese companies to
expand their investment in the country, Wen told
Tsvangirai.
He proposed that the two nations provide further guidelines
for an expansion
of bilateral trade cooperation, promising that China would
transfer many
technologies with practical utilities to increase Zimbabwe's
capacity
building.
Tsvangirai expressed his gratitude for China's
long-term help, saying that
his country will learn from China's successful
experience of national
development and step up its trade cooperation with
the Asian country.
Prime Minister encouraged the Chinese to invest in
Zimbabwe, saying
opportunities exist in mining, agriculture, manufacturing
and infrastructure
development.
This comes at a time when MDC-T is at
the forefront of condemning existing
Chinese investments in Zimbabwe,
claiming they are not beneficial.
In his address at the Sino-Africa Trade
in Services and Investment Forum in
Beijing yesterday, PM Tsvangirai made a
passionate plea to the Chinese to
invest in Zimbabwe.
“For those of
you who have yet to invest in our country, you are welcome
especially as we
seek to deepen our economic relations on a win-win basis
that serves the
interest of our people,” he said.
“We are the new place to do business,
not as junior partners, but in
mutually beneficial partnerships that
benefit the people of our countries.”
Added PM Tsvangirai: “While we have
been dogged by toxic politics, the star
status of Zimbabwe as a natural
destination for investment is a matter of
public record — a country with
abundant skills and a hospitable people that
yearn for the best for itself
and future generations.”
Mr Tsvangirai then attacked Government’s
Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment drive that seeks to economically
empower indigenous Zimbabweans.
He said the regulations discouraged
foreign investment in the country.
“We have many opportunities in mining,
agriculture, tourism and
manufacturing and our quest to attract investment
has been affected by the
way in which sections of our inclusive Government
have gone about
implementing measures to promote the participation of our
previously
disadvantaged citizens in the mainstream economy,” PM Tsvangirai
said.
He pledged to disable implementation of the
regulations.
“But you must appreciate that implementing such measures in
an uneasy
coalition government would be difficult and we will continue to
mitigate the
excesses of the law pending the next election when I am
confident the
elected government will bring finality to this issue,” he
said.
PM Tsvangirai blamed lack of investment and prosperity in the
country to an
“uneasy coalition” but assured the Chinese that “any company
that operates
within the confines of the law has my protection and that of
our
Constitution”.
He said the country’s economic turnaround efforts
were being hindered by
poor infrastructure.
“It is in the economic
interest of China and our other developed friends to
work with us to resolve
these infrastructural challenges to open up the
African resource and to
build markets,” he said.
“China could play a part — both in present and
future relations — as we
strive to build a strong economy, use market
principles with safety nets and
targeted policies to promote economic and
social justice and to provide jobs
and uplift our people.
“I am
encouraged that Chinese State-owned enterprises and others have shown
interest in our country.”
PM Tsvangirai is in China on a week-long
visit.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
30 May 2011
The murder of Sekuru Cephas Magura, the MDC-T
chairman for Ward One Mudzi
North, has again cast a spotlight on the issue
of police loyalty to ZANU PF,
and many Zimbabweans are demanding that the
perpetrators be punished to the
full extent of the law.
The Mudzi
disrict of Mashonaland East is said to be tense and people have
been staying
at home whenever possible since Saturday, when a ZANU PF mob of
about 300
attacked 70 MDC-T activists at a rally at Chimukoko Business
centre. The
thugs had also put up roadblocks in the area.
According to accounts by
those who were at the rally, ZANU PF activists led
by Ward 3 councillor
David Chimukoko started toyi-toying and chanting
slogans near the venue of
the MDC-T rally. Chimukoko even threatened
Seargents Ngwenya and Mashipe
after they told him the rally was cleared.
Political analyst Professor
John Makumbe said the reason that the Public
Order and Security Act (POSA)
requires notification of the police when
holding public events is so that
they can be present to ensure there is no
harassment or disturbances. But
they always fail to protect the MDC.
“What is worse is that in Mudzi the
police were looking on rather than
intervene while people were being beaten.
In a very subtle way the police
are the ones perpetuating political
violence,” Makumbe explained. He added
that Mugabe will not order the
arrests of his own party members because he
would lose
support.
Witnesses have said Sekuru Magura went missing after the attack
and his body
was found over an hour later, lying by the roadside where the
mob had
dragged and left him for dead. The 67-year old official appeared to
have
been stoned and kicked repeatedly.
The ZANU PF activists have
reportedly claimed Sekuru Magura died after
falling from a moving truck at
the scene. However, they did not explain why
they had violently disrupted
the rally. Seven other MDC-T activists were
also hospitalised after the
attack. Four were treated in Harare and
released.
Graham Nyahada,
MDC-T spokesman for Mashonaland East, told SW Radio Africa
that a post
mortem examination was being carried out and results would be
soon be
released. He said there was no doubt, even to the district police,
that
Magura had died from injuries during the assault.
Nyahada is also the
provincial co-chairperson for the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation
Committee (JOMIC), who are now said to be investigating the
incident. He
said six ZANU PF activists have been arrested so far and are
due for a
remand hearing Thursday.
Newten Kachepa, the ZANU PF MP for Mudzi North
who allegedly drove the ZANU
PF youths to the rally, filed a false report at
Kotwa Police Station,
claiming he had been attacked by the MDC
members.
Unconfirmed reports said Kachepa was arrested at Parliament on
Monday, and
had already been released from custody.
An angry MDC-T
member writing on the Facebook social network said: “police
have been
ZANU-nised”, suggesting they work only for ZANU PF and do not
protect
members of any other party.
The grieving party member blasted the police
at Kotwa, saying they refused
to send re-enforcements, even after MDC-T
officials offered their truck as
transport. A constable Kachidza allegedly
said police do not ride in MDC
vehicles. The truck that was offered had no
name written anywhere.
The issue of partisan police and security
institutions that publicly declare
loyalty to Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF has
been one of the most problematic
issues faced by the political parties
working on a roadmap to elections. And
the Mudzi incident is reminder of why
this has to change.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Six people have been
arrested in connection with the murder of Cephas
Magura, Chairperson for
ward 1 Mudzi North. The deceased aged 58 was
severely assaulted at Chimukoko
Business Centre on Saturday 26 May 2012 at
around 12pm. He was hit by a
stone on the head and fell on the ground and
was severely assaulted by ZANU
PF youth who had come to disrupt the rally.
The rally was disrupted just 30
minutes after it started.
30.05.1207:11am
by Heal Zimbabwe
It
is reported that close to one hundred MDC supporters had gathered at
Chimukoko Business centre for a rally which was sanctioned by the police.
Heal Zimbabwe applaud the police for arresting the six perpetrators but
questions emerge on why the police failed to calm the situation at a rally
that was sanctioned. A sanctioned rally is supposed to have members of the
police to monitor and make sure the rally is peaceful, it was the police’s
duty to protect the victim from the hooligans. It is the responsibility of
the police to protect people from violence regardless of their political
affiliation. The MDC by informing the police means they wanted a peaceful
rally with no disruptions.
Mr. Chikuna who was part of those who
attended the rally narrated that
ZANU-PF supporters came and started singing
at the same venue they were
having their rally. He states that the violent
youth started singing their
party songs and started attacking the people who
were at the rally. The MDC
supporters responded by fleeing the venue but the
youth pursued them and in
the process hit Mr. Mugura with a stone on the
head and he died on the spot.
Six other MDC supporters were assaulted and
are still receiving treatment at
a hospital in Harare.
The post
mortem results indicate that the late Mr. Mugura was hit on the
head with a
blunt object and assaulted all over his body. Mourners are
gathered at Dotso
Village, Goronga, Mudzi. The deceased will be laid to rest
on Saturday, 2
June 2012.
Heal Zimbabwe castigates the upsurge of political violence and
is surprised
by utterances from political leaders during the visit by the UN
Human Rights
Commissioner, Ms Pillay that cases of political violence have
stabilized in
Zimbabwe when almost every day there are reports from various
parts of the
country of harassment and intimidation of human rights
defenders. Eight
people were killed in Mudzi alone in the 2008 political
violence. Levels of
political polarization are alarming in the country.
JOMIC and the Organ on
National Healing have a daunting task ahead of the
oncoming elections. The
scheduled SADC summit should address these issues.
We call upon political
activists to walk the talk of peace as a fulfillment
of the Global Political
Agreement. We assert and continue to emphasise that
the state has to play
its role in prosecuting past perpetrators of political
violence and deal
effectively with current cases of impunity.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Violence is on the increase and most of it is
politically motivated, a
recent survey by the Combined Harare Residents
Association has found.
30.05.1209:21am
by Staff Reporter
“Zanu
(PF) is still holding on to council premises, from which council is
supposed
to be earning rent. But all the money is being pocketed by the
party’s youth
militia. Only a quarter of business operators in Mbare pay the
monthly
service charges. Most operators who do not sympathize with Zanu (PF)
have
been chased away from Magaba, Siyaso, Mupedzanhamo and Masimbi,” says
the
report.
CHRA reported previously that Mbare market stalls have been
turned into Zanu
(PF) districts, with regular party meetings being held and
funds collected.
Now it says the party has penetrated residential
areas.
“A classic example is Carter House which was violently seized by
Chipangano
and currently houses more than 20 youth militia. Efforts by
council to
regain the property have on several occasions proved to be
bloody, as these
youths can simply unleash violence without fear of
consequences,” says the
report.
It adds that “about 87.5% of
residents who were knowledgeable of national
institutions like JOMIC and the
organ on national healing said these bodies
had failed to mitigate
violence”. Research found that residents were still
being coerced to attend
Zanu (PF) rallies and those who refuse to do so are
marked for
retribution.
Residents have called on the government to address the
operations of the
police force “because statements alone will not put to end
violence”.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Haggling between Zanu (PF) and MDC-T
over the content and scope of the Human
Rights Bill is the major stumbling
block to the activation of the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission, The
Zimbabwean has established.
30.05.1211:51am
by Tapiwa
Zivira
Touted as the solution to the country’s bad human rights
record, ZHRC is yet
to start functioning, two years after the swearing in of
its commissioners.
Parliament is finding it difficult to pass the Human
Rights Bill that would
give the ZHRC the legal mandate to investigate human
rights abuses because
of persistent differences between the two major
political parties.
The ZHRC is a provision of the Global Political
Agreement, established by
Section 100R of the Constitution Amendment 19, of
2009.
UN Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, who visited Zimbabwe last week
to assess
the rights situation in the country expressed serious concerns
about the
commission and urged that it should start working ahead of the
next
elections.
She joins the long list of local, regional and
international human rights
advocates who have called on the inclusive
government to speed up the
implementation of all provisions of the
GPA.
Zimbabwe’s polls have become synonymous with political violence and
the
commission is regarded as a crucial tool to address past violations and
ensure the avoidance of future abuses.
Justice and Legal Affairs
Minister Patrick Chinamasa last Friday claimed at
a press conference that
MDC-T was frustrating the Bill.
“Last year we, including the two
MDCs, agreed on all the issues to be
incorporated into the bill but the MDC
parliamentary caucus opposes it every
time I present it in Parliament,” said
Chinamasa.
He said it had been agreed that the Commission would only deal
with human
rights issues relating ‘‘to the present and future’’. Those
pertaining to
the period before the GNU coalition government in 2009 ‘‘will
have to be
dealt with through another mechanism’’.
But MDC-T
spokesperson, who is also chairperson of the Parliamentary
Portfolio
Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, Douglas Mwonzora, accused
Chinamasa
of lying.
“It does not make sense to look at issues after 2009, we did
not agree to
that,” he said.
There has been heated debate over how
far back the body should investigate
human rights abuses and Zanu (PF) has
been adamant that it should only deal
with cases which happened after the
formation of the inclusive government in
2009.
This has been
interpreted as an attempt by the party to get away with the
1980s
Gukurahundi killings and the political violence from 2000 to
2008.
Mwonzora said the committee made recommendations for changes to the
Human
Rights Bill in October, but the minister had not responded
yet.
“The Bill currently does not make sense because we cannot have a
commission
that is under the control of the Justice Ministry. That
effectively negates
its independence, which is critical,” he
said.
The commissioners include Reginald Austin, llen Sithole, Joseph
Kurebwa,
Jacob Mudenda, Japhet-Ndabeni Ncube, Sheila Matindike, Elasto
Mugwadi, Ona
Jirira and Norma Niseni.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
30/05/2012 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
NATURAL gas and coal deposits have been discovered on both
sides of the
Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, Deputy Mines Minister, Gift
Chimanikire has
said.
The discovery was made by Mozambique
authorities who indicated that deposits
appeared to extend into Zimbabwean
side of the boarder.
If confirmed, the deposits could help transform
Manicaland which already
boasts of alluvial diamond deposits said to be
among the largest in the
world.
“According to details from the
Ministry of Mines in Mozambique, natural gas
from their side is flowing into
Zimbabwe,” Chimanikire said.
“There are plans by Government to carry out
an aero magnetic survey. It was
initially done in the 1980s but was stopped
as a result of a civil war in
Mozambique. We floated a tender that flopped
because of irregularities.”
Chimanikire claimed that investors in South
Africa had already indicated
interest in exploiting the discoveries adding
plans were already underway to
determine the size of the
deposits.
“We are going to form a joint venture between Government and
the private
sector to carry out the survey and the exploration company will
soon go on
the ground. A tender will be floated soon.”
The mining
sector has bee credited with helping drive the country’s recovery
from a
decade-long recession and in 2011 alone contributed US$2,1 billion to
national exports, representing 50 percent of total foreign exchange
earnings.
Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, recently said the sector was on
course to
archive projected growth of 15,8 percent this year.
By Lance
Guma
30 May 2012
Former ZANU PF Women’s League Political Commissar and Marondera East MP Tracy Mutinhiri has told SW Radio Africa that she was attracted into joining the MDC-T because the party prioritises “putting bread and butter on people’s tables.”
Mutinhiri represented ZANU PF as Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in the shaky coalition government before she was expelled in August last year for allegedly de-campaigning the party. She joined the MDC-T a few days after the expulsion but the switch was only announced early this month for her own safety.
On Wednesday the ex-wife of retired army Brigadier-General, Ambrose Mutinhiri was a guest on SW Radio Africa’s Question Time. She said when the MDC was formed she was serving as a diplomat in the former Yugoslavia and like many in ZANU PF believed the ‘propaganda’ about ‘how bad the party was’ for Zimbabwe.
“But when I joined the inclusive government and seeing how they were working, how they were functioning, how they would want to reach out to people and bring bread and butter on peoples tables, I said after all this party is not as bad as it was being portrayed and some of their core values I respect them,” she said.
Mutinhiri said her problems in ZANU PF started because she had a good working relationship with her boss, the Minister for Labour and Social Welfare Paurine Mpariwa who is from the MDC-T. She explained: “They (ZANU PF) preferred me to fight with Paurine from time to time, disrupting our government programmes.”
Mutinhiri said things came to a head when she and Mpariwa conducted a government work programme close to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s home area. The PM invited them over to his home and when pictures of Mutinhiri and Mpariwa were published in the MDC-T newsletter, her problems began.
In the interview broadcast Wednesday evening Mutinhiri claimed State Security Minister Sidney Sekeramayi was behind most of her problems because she had turned down his sexual advances. She also blamed the breakdown of her marriage to Brigadier-General Mutinhiri on Sekeramayi and his ‘emissaries.’
Mutinhiri also tackled issues around how she and her ex-husband violently seized their farm from its former white owners, the killing of MDC-T supporters by the Central Intelligence Organisation and the dumping of the bodies in the Wenimbe Dam in Marondera and whether she will stand as an MDC-T candidate.
To listen to the full interview with Tracy Mutinhiri: Click Here
http://www.radiovop.com
Johannesburg, May
30, 2012- Deputy Minister of Women and Gender Affairs
Jessie Majome conceded
at a meeting held in Johannesburg Wednesday that the
Constitutional and
Parliamentary Committee’s (Copac) led process was nothing
but political
contestation casting doubts of the credibility of the draft
document
.
On several occasions the leading constitutional lobby group, the
National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has argued that the Copac was not
going to
deliver a people driven and democratic constitution as the process
was
solely controlled by political parties.
“This constitutional
process is nothing but politics” Majome said at a civil
society meeting
organised by the Action for Conflict Transformation.
“The politics of the
constitutional process is acrimonious, there is deep
polarisation in
Zimbabwe that a number of issues had to be parked during the
drafting
process such as multiple citizenship, number of vice presidents,
devolution
and land issue” added Majome.
Majome, who is also Tsvangirai’s Movement
for Democratic Change secretary
for parliamentary and constitutional
affairs, took a swipe at Zanu (PF)
alleging the party was in desperate need
of proper legal advice as she
alleged the party exposed ignorance even on
obvious issues of human rights.
Demonstrating trivia exposed by Zanu
(PF), Majome, added that Zanu (PF) at
certain points spent time arguing even
on semantics like ‘good’ preferring
to have such terms
omitted.
Majome warned Zanu (PF) should learn from Muammar Gaddafi who
desperately
needed human rights defence at the dusk of his political career
when holed
up in a trench where he was captured by the rebels.
Zanu
(PF) is reported to be calling for the military to be allowed to
participate
openly in political processes which is viewed by civil society
as a danger
to democracy and accountability. Majome also cited issues of
underfunding
of the process that in a way hampered the process.
“The constitutional
process is probably one of the under-funded processes in
the world.
Currently about US $42 million has been invested in the process
and to
complete the exercise might reach the figure of US$46 million”
lamented
Majome.
This figure is minute if compared to other countries like Kenya
that
consumed about US $1 billion in its constitutional making
process.
The meeting was attended by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition,
National
Constitutional Assembly, Movement for Democratic Change, Congress
of South
Africa Trade Unions among others.
http://www.radiovop.com
By Professor Matodzi Gweru, May 30, 2012
- Zanu (PF) is facing eviction from
its offices here over unpaid rentals,
electricity, water and other charges
amounting to $ 5 667.
The
Catering Industry Pension Fund (CIPF), which owns Development House,
which
has been home to the former ruling party for several years, has
dragged Zanu
(PF) to court seeking its eviction from the Gweru premises for
failing to
pay rentals for the past two years.
Summons filed at the High Court early
this month by CIPF show that Zanu (PF)
had not been paying rentals, rates
and electricity and water charges from
the period August 2010 to April this
year.
The pension fund wants the High Court to terminate the lease
agreement it
signed with the former ruling party and eject it from occupying
its
premises. It also wants the party to pay $5 667 comprising of rental
arrears, electricity and water charges and the cost of detergents and fire
extinguishers used at the premises.
“As a result of the defendant’s
breaches aforesaid, plaintiff is legally
entitled to and claims for
cancellation of the lease agreement and for the
defendant’s eviction from
the leased premises,” CIPF noted in court papers
perused by Radio VOP this
week.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
00:00
Municipal Reporter
Harare is on high alert following reports of
a cholera outbreak in Chiredzi,
the city’s health services director, Dr
Prosper Chonzi, has said. Giving an
update on the typhoid situation in
Harare, Dr Chonzi
confirmed health officials were on high alert “because
of the high mobility
of people between Harare and Chiredzi”.
According to
media reports, two people have so far died in Chiredzi while
more than 100
others were treated for cholera.
Dr Chonzi said the city was still far
from declaring the typhoid outbreak
over because people are still being
treated for the disease. He said the
numbers have gone down drastically from
around 90 patients per day to an
average of one or two per day. The longest
the city has gone without
recording a single case was 10 days.
Dr
Chonzi said council has dismantled the tents at Kuwadzana and Beatrice
Infectious Diseases Hospital which were set up to accommodate the large
numbers of typhoid patients.
“We are now redeploying our staff back
to their usual workstations,” he
said.
Zimbabwe experienced a severe
cholera outbreak in 2008 that left at least 4
200 people dead.
http://www.voanews.com/
29 May
2012
Tatenda
Gumbo | Washington
Zimbabwe has continued its crackdown on
unregistered colleges and private
schools, closing down some 160 uncertified
learning institutions.
Last year 124 private colleges and independent
training institutions were
shut down while 31 others were de-registered when
they failed to comply with
the country's education laws.
Private
learning institutions mushroomed in Zimbabwe over the past decade as
the
country's public education system collapsed. Now officials are clamping
down
on schools that fail to follow laid down rules.
Authorities also say most
of these colleges have exploited families and
students out of hard-earned
cash, ignoring structured education standards
and
requirements.
Zimbabwe National Students Union spokesman Zachariah
Mushawatu told VOA the
closing down of these institutions has a greater
affect on students who have
invested time and money into their
studies.
"There are some unregistered institutions which subscribe to
quality
standards that are actually at par," he said. "They employ people
that have
the qualifications to impart knowledge."
Mushawatu said the
government must weed out the ones working to gain money
only.
College
Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe president David Dzatsunga supports
the
government’s move to close down "dubious" institutions, which he says
down
grade education in the country.
"At the end of the day you wonder if
these so-called colleges have got the
personnel to offer the kind of quality
education Zimbabwe has been famed
for," said Dzatsunga. "You would want to
believe that those who may be
attain qualifications in reputable
institutions become diluted by these
fly-by-night commercial colleges."
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex
Bell
30 May 2012
The United Nations (UN) tourism body has insisted
that Robert Mugabe has not
been an awarded an official title, after he and
his Zambian counterpart were
asked to be tourism ambassadors.
Local
and international media have both reported on the shocked and
indignant
reaction to the news that Mugabe and Zambia’s Michael Sata had
been selected
as tourism leaders. This follows news that the two countries
will jointly
host the UN World Tourism Office (UNWTO) General Assembly next
year.
The UN has since been strongly criticised with some reports
stating the
decision to choose Mugabe as a ‘tourism leader’ was
hypocritical, because of
the UN’s commitment to human rights. Other reports
said the decision brings
the UN’s credibility into question, because Mugabe
is a known human rights
abuser.
But the UN grouping has insisted that
no official honour or ambassadorial
role has been bestowed on Mugabe or
Sata. The UN says it is simply trying to
encourage the African nations to
promote tourism as a valuable source of
revenue.
Sandra Carvao,
UNWTO’s co-ordinator of communications, said: “UNWTO has
presented both
presidents with an open letter which calls for them to
support tourism as a
means to foster sustainable development in their
countries to the benefit of
their people and consequently ask them to
support the sector in this
respect.”
She added: “UNWTO does not have an ambassadors programme and
the receiving
of the UNWTO open letter implies no legal commitment or title
attribution to
the country or the head of state or government in
question.”
The move however is still being criticised as a questionable
embrace of
Mugabe as a tourism envoy, despite the ageing dictator remaining
under
targeted international sanctions.
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/africa/230009-un-appointment-for-zimbabwe-strongman-sparks-outrage-on-capitol-hill
By Julian Pecquet -
05/30/12 10:36 AM ET
The United Nations has “hit a new low” with its
decision to honor Zimbabwe
strongman Robert Mugabe as an international
tourism leader, House Foreign
Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
(R-Fla.) said Tuesday.
Mugabe has been accused of rigging elections,
cracking down on political
opponents and plunging his country into economic
ruin. The president is an
international pariah subject to a travel ban by
the United States and the
European Union.
But on Tuesday, Mugabe and
one of his political allies, Zambian President
Michael Sata, inked an
agreement for their countries to co-host the United
Nations World Tourism
Organization's general assembly in August 2013. The
U.N. also sent Mugabe
and Sata a letter asking them to serve as "global
leaders" for
tourism.
“The UN has hit a new low with the naming of Mugabe as a UN
tourism envoy,
as if North Korea chairing the Conference on Disarmament and
Cuba serving as
vice president of the Human Rights Council had not been
enough,”
Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. “The continued rewards the UN
bestows upon
the world’s dictators has reached the point of absurd. An
organization
devoted to world peace and stability is propping up and aiding
the very
regimes that oppose such ideals. Enough is enough. We need real UN
reform
with real consequences for these outrages.”
Ros-Lehtinen is
the author of legislation that would enable the United
States to withhold
funding for U.N. agencies it disagrees with, such as the
Human Rights
Council, which many lawmakers view as being anti-Israel.
In response to
international criticism, the UNWTO said it didn't give Mugabe
any tourism
title but merely sent him the same “Open Letter on Travel and
Tourism” that
more than two dozen other heads of state received. The letter
calls on the
leaders to acknowledge tourism as a driver of economic growth
and confers no
legal commitment or title, according to the U.N.
Media reports in Great
Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial master, said
Mugabe was being named an
honorary “ambassador” or “envoy” — titles that the
World Tourism
Organization does not even bestow, according to the U.N.
The UNWTO
controversy comes just days after U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights
Navi Pillay called for the suspension of international sanctions
imposed on
Zimbabwe since 2002.
"While it is difficult to disentangle the specific
causes of Zimbabwe’s
major social and economic ills, there seems little
doubt that the existence
of the sanctions regimes has, at the very least,
acted as a serious
disincentive to overseas banks and investors. ... Taken
together, these and
other unintended side effects will in turn inevitably
have had a negative
impact on the economy at large, with possibly quite
serious ramifications
for the country’s poorest and most vulnerable
populations who have also had
to cope with the political instability and
violence as well as a severe
drought,” Pillay said at a press conference at
the end of her five-day visit
to the country ahead of new elections that are
expected within a year.
“I would urge those countries that are currently
applying sanctions on
Zimbabwe to suspend them, at least until the conduct
and outcome of the
elections and related reforms are clear.”
http://www.csmonitor.com
Zimbabwe's
President Mugabe, who signed an agreement to co-host a UN tourism
conference, now has an honorary position as envoy, despite a long record of
human rights abuses.
By Scott Baldauf, Staff writer / May 30,
2012
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe follows proceedings at celebrations
to mark
32 years of independence of Zimbabwe, in Harare, in this April 18
file
photo. Mugabe has just been named the UN’s international envoy for
tourism,
despite a long record of human rights abuses.
Zimbabwe’s
President Robert Mugabe has just been named the UN’s
international envoy for
tourism. It’s a special recognition for Mr. Mugabe’s
agreement to co-host,
with Zambia, a United Nations World Tourism
Organization general assembly
next August.
At a ceremony in Victoria Falls, Mugabe said the agreement
between Zimbabwe,
Zambia, and the United Nations is of “historical
importance.”
“For our people, the signing of the agreement attests to our
commitment, our
readiness to welcome the entire tourism fraternity to our
countries,” Mugabe
was quoted by the independent Zimbabwe newspaper NewsDay
as saying. “For the
UN World Tourism Organisation, on the other hand, the
signatures testify to
the confidence and trust that was bestowed upon
us.”
That Mugabe, a man who faces a European Union travel ban and
economic
sanctions because of his repression and torture of opposition
activists,
would be named a UN envoy for tourism has drawn a certain amount
of
criticism.
Mr. Mugabe’s ruling party is accused of arresting,
detaining, and in some
cases killing members of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
during the 2008 national elections. He later formed a
coalition government
with the MDC, after an 11-month stalemate in which the
national currency
became worthless and inflation soared to more than 1
million percent.
Mugabe is also blamed for a violent land-reclamation
campaign, in which
armed thugs stormed and took over the property of white
commercial farmers,
as well as the Gukurahundi counterinsurgency campaign in
the early 1980s
against the rival ZAPO militant group in the Matabeleland
region, which
killed as many as 20,000 people.
So Mugabe’s selection
as UN tourism envoy is not an obvious choice.
At the Victoria Falls
ceremony, where Mugabe and Zambian President Michael
Sata signed an
agreement to hold the UNWTO assembly, the UN’s Taleb Rifai
told a gathering,
“By coming here, it is recognition, an endorsement on the
country that it is
a safe destination."
Zimbabwe once had a thriving tourism industry, both
before and after the
fall of the racist white Rhodesian government to
Mugabe’s ZANU-PF majority
government in 1980. Then, tourists flocked to see
the gorgeous Victoria
Falls or trundled around game parks to see lions,
elephants, and rhinos in
their native environment. Economic collapse and
political instability
changed all that, and Mugabe’s hanging on to power for
32 years has given
the local tourism industry little incentive to grow. A UN
conference will
certainly add a little jingle in a few pockets, but once the
suited
diplomats leave, there is little indication that Zimbabwe’s tourism
industry
is heading toward a revival.
Members of the MDC, an
opposition party that now shares power with Mugabe’s
ZANU-PF, condemned the
UN’s honoring of Mugabe.
"I can't see any justification for the man being
an 'ambassador,' " Kumbi
Muchemwa, an MDC spokesman told the Guardian
newspaper. "An ambassador for
what? The man has blood on his hands. Do they
want tourists to see those
bloody hands?”
Mugabe's spokesman Rugare
Gumbo told the Telegraph that the "situation on
the ground in Zimbabwe is
not as bad as portrayed."
There have been rumors for years that Mugabe
would like to step down from
power, and pave the way for a peaceful
succession for his ZANU-PF to remain
in power, so the seeming rehabilitation
of Mugabe by various UN agencies
could be seen as a gentle nudge toward
honorable retirement.
Navi Pillay, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human
Rights, urged Europe and
the US to lift economic sanctions and travel bans
against Mugabe and his
inner circle of supporters because all three of the
major parties in
Zimbabwe now oppose them. Lifting sanctions would allow
Zimbabwe to hold a
fresh round of elections, perhaps by early next year, Ms.
Pillay said.
"I would urge those countries that are currently applying
sanctions on
Zimbabwe to suspend them, at least until the conduct and
outcome of the
elections and related reforms are clear," Pillay told
journalists on May 25,
following a five day trip to Harare, Zimbabwe’s
capital.
Could a few honorary degrees, an honorary ambassadorship, and a
few thousand
tourists persuade Mugabe to step down from power? Perhaps. It’s
certainly a
cheaper alternative to war
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Sapa-AP | 30 May, 2012 11:53
Taylor,
64, was convicted last month of all 11 counts of war crimes and
crimes
against humanity for aiding and abetting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary
United
Front (RUF) during the country's brutal 1991-2001 civil war.
In return,
the court said, he was paid in diamonds mined by slave labour in
areas under
control of the rebels, who murdered, raped and kept sex slaves,
hacked off
limbs and forced children under 15 to fight.
"The accused has been found
responsible for aiding and abetting some of the
most heinous crimes in human
history," said Special Court for Sierra Leone
judge Richard Lussick on
Wednesday.
"The trial chamber unanimously sentences you to a single term
of
imprisonment for 50 years on all counts," the judge said as he announced
the
ruling of the court based at Leidschendam, just outside The
Hague.
"The trial chamber noticed that the effects of these crimes on the
families
and society as a whole in Sierra Leone was devastating," Lussick
said in
handing down the ruling, the first sentence against a former head of
state
in an international court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in
1946.
Taylor, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and dressed in a dark suit and
gold tie,
listened with his eyes closed as the judge handed down the
sentence, which
Taylor's team, and prosecutors, have two weeks to
appeal.
Early this month, chief prosecutor Brenda Hollis argued for 80
years behind
bars for Taylor, once one of west Africa's most powerful men
and a driving
force behind Sierra Leone's decade-long war which claimed
120,000 lives.
His defence argued such a sentence would be
"excessive".
Throughout the trial, Taylor himself maintained his
innocence and insisted
he was instrumental in eventually ending Sierra
Leone's civil war.
He will remain in the UN's detention unit in The Hague
until his appeal
procedure is finalised.
Taylor's sentence will be
served in a British prison. London's offer in 2007
to host Taylor in custody
if he was found guilty was part of the deal to put
him on trial in the
Netherlands-based court.
The trial, which lasted nearly four years,
wrapped up in March 2011.
It saw several high-profile witnesses testify,
including supermodel Naomi
Campbell, who told of a gift of "dirty diamonds"
she received in 1997 at a
charity ball hosted by South Africa's then
president Nelson Mandela.
Handing down the verdict last month, Judge
Lussick stressed that although
Taylor had substantial influence over the
RUF, including its feared leader
Foday Sankoh, this "fell short of command
and control" of rebel forces.
Sankoh died in 2003 before he could face
trial.
Authorities in Nigeria arrested Taylor in March 2006 as he tried
to flee
from exile after being forced to quit Liberia three years earlier,
under
international pressure to end that country's own civil war.
He
was transferred to The Hague in mid-2006 amid security fears should he go
on
trial in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown.
Taylor's sentencing came 66
years after the International Military Tribunal
at Nuremberg sentenced
admiral Karl Donitz to 10 years in jail for his part
in Nazi crimes during
World War II. Adolf Hitler had appointed Donitz his
successor shortly before
committing suicide in Berlin in 1945.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
UN Human Rights
Commissioner, Navi Pillay, last week urged the EU and US to
suspend the
restrictive measures against President Robert Mugabe, his
lieutenants in
Zanu (PF) and companies aligned to the party, saying they
were hurting the
poor. The Zimbabwean interviewed ordinary people, who
expressed mixed
feelings over the Commissioner’s call.
30.05.1207:53am
by Tapiwa
Zivira
Never Ndoro, 39, a Glen Norah airtime vendor said
sanctions did not have an
impact and were just used by Zanu (PF) as a
scapegoat.
“Zanu (PF) has run out of excuses to remain in power, that is
why the
President continues to tell the world that he will remain in power
until
sanctions have been removed. These measures do not have any impact on
the
economy of the country,” said Ndoro.
Another airtime vendor, who
identified himself as Charity, argued that
sanctions must be removed because
they give Zanu (PF) a chance to sell
itself as a martyred party.
“If
they fail to deliver as a party, they just use sanctions as an excuse to
whip up people’s emotions against other parties. So sanctions must go
because some people really believe what Zanu (PF) says when they say
everyone must unite behind them against the West,” said Charity.
“But
have you ever seen the West coming to destroy agricultural production?
Or is
it the West that unleashed violence against the people of Zimbabwe in
2008?
Why blame the sanctions if Mugabe and his party are the ones to
blame?” he
asked.
Asked about Pillay’s statement urging ‘countries that are
currently applying
sanctions on Zimbabwe to suspend them, at least until the
conduct and
outcome of the elections and related reforms are clear,’ Wendy
Musari (22)
of Engineering, Highfield accused the EU and the United States
of being
insincere about facilitating democratic reform in
Zimbabwe.
“It is clear that these sanctions continue to be an issue that
is occupying
a lot of space in the GNU. If they are removed, there can be
more time to
focus on other issues like economic reform and the creation of
a peaceful
election environment. If the US and EU are sincere about proper
reform and
free and fair elections, they must give Zimbabwe the benefit of
doubt and
remove sanctions to allow reform to take place,” said Musari. A
Zanu (PF)
youth member, who identified himself only as Comrade Dee, said
Pillay’s
statements were welcome given that his party has been advocating
for the
removal of sanctions for nearly a decade now.
“Pillay must be
praised for being realistic about the sanctions issue and
the Americans and
Europeans must immediately remove the sanctions because
they are all members
of the UN,” he said.
“In essence, Pillay’s statement is a sign that the
international advocacy
against sanctions by Zanu (PF) has worked and we must
consolidate that
achievement by making noise to the EU and US to scrap the
sanctions,” he
added.
A Highfield electrician, Tinashe Muskwe (24),
said Pillay’s assessment
regarding the sanctions was wrong.
“I do not
think sanctions affect us as a nation. They only affect certain
targeted
individuals and these are the ones who complain about them,” said
Muskwe.
He said President Mugabe should instead ensure that there
were democratic
elections before the sanctions could be lifted. “If
sanctions are removed,
Zanu (PF) will feast on that and unleash violence
that will hinder free and
fair elections” said Muskwe.
But Madzibaba
Arnold of the Johanne Masowe WeChishanu Apostolic sect in
Budiriro 5 thinks
Pillay’s statements come at the right time. “Sanctions
must be removed
forthwith to set the pace for economic development as there
will be no more
excuses for economic failure,” he said.
Madzibaba added that the UN must
actively participate to lobby for the
removal of these restrictive measures
instead of just talking.
http://blogs.ft.com/
May 30, 2012 1:20 pm by Tony
Hawkins
Last week Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
said sanctions
on Zimbabwe applied by some Western countries were having “a
negative impact
on the economy at large, with quite possibly serious
ramifications for the
country’s poorest and most vulnerable populations”.
Her claim does not bear
examination.
Nor does her assertion that the
sanctions, on more than a hundred
individuals and on businesses owned by the
ruling Zanu-PF and the state, are
“a disincentive to overseas banks and
investors” and have “limited certain
exports and imports”.
Official
data tell a very different story. In the three years since the
country
dollarised at the start of 2009, GDP growth has averaged 8 per cent
a year –
the fastest yet achieved over such a period since Independence 32
years
ago.
Inflation has averaged less than one per cent a year, while exports
have
increased 40 per cent annually – about ten times the growth rate of
world
trade. Imports – far from being limited by sanctions as Pillay says –
have
almost trebled to reach an unsustainable 75 per cent of GDP in 2011.
The
trade gap trebled from $1bn in 2008 to $3bn last year.
Pillay’s
comments on investment and foreign loans are equally wide of the
mark.
Foreign direct investment rose from $105m in 2009 to $373m last year
while
portfolio inflows, mostly through the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, are put
at
$140m. In the last two years the country has borrowed $1.2bn offshore.
The
real reason why Zimbabwe’s offshore borrowing is constrained is the
country’s foreign debt arrears of over $7bn (70 per cent of GDP). Targeted
sanctions are not part of the equation.
To claim that the vulnerable
and poorest segments of the country’s 11m
people are suffering because of
financial and travel sanctions imposed on
president Robert Mugabe and his
closest supporters is misguided. Per capita
incomes have risen five per cent
a year for the last three years – the first
such growth since the mid-1990s.
Some 45,000 new formal sector jobs were
created in 2010 (there are no
employment data yet for 2011) after a decade
in which over half a million
people lost their jobs. Meanwhile, average real
wages have more than doubled
since 2008.
Living standards and employment collapsed in the “lost
decade” to 2008, not
because targeted sanctions were imposed in 2002 but
because Mugabe’s Zanu-PF
government adopted economically disastrous
policies, from fast track land
reform to reckless central bank credit
creation that culminated in the
collapse of the currency and the
disappearance of the Zimbabwe dollar at the
end of 2008.
The
subsequent turnaround in the Zimbabwe economy is primarily the result of
dollarisation with a little bit of – usually exaggerated – help from the
inclusive government headed by Mugabe and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai
since February 2009. Whatever adverse effects the sanctions have had were
swamped by the positive impact of exchange rate stabilization which squeezed
hyperinflation out of the system in just a few weeks, reviving the financial
sector and restoring business confidence, at least in the short
term.
But the dollarization bounce is beginning to run of steam.
Economists say
GDP growth in 2012 is likely to be little more than the
estimated 9 per cent
achieved last year. Because sanctions have had minimal
economic and social
impact, their immediate suspension, advocated by Pillay,
would not stimulate
economic growth. Instead, it would give Mugabe’s Zanu-PF
party a boost
before elections to be held sometime over the next 18 months –
thereby
putting at risk the fragile gains achieved during the last three
years.
May 30th, 2012
“Zimbabwe has just celebrated its 32 years of self-rule, all dominated by one political party and the same ‘big man’. It is a country at a crossroad… in dire need of renewal, and that renewal can no longer come from the old-guard nor the party of independence,” writes Tapera Kapuya, a Zimbabwean analyst with the National Endowment for Democracy in Australia.
“… The current situation suggests considerable cause for concern for anyone interested in Zimbabwe’s democratic transition. The unity government constitutionally comes to an end mid-2013 and elections or another political negotiation, or both, will determine the country’s immediate future…,” Kapuya says. “For Zanu-PF, the unity government gave it room to breathe, weaken the opposition, and buy time (for) Mugabe has never really shared any power at all…. Zanu-PF has retreated to its liberation war tactics, in particular, reactivating the party’s political-military alliance…. It is this political-military alliance that guides Zanu-PF’s march into its future.”
March
During March, it became increasingly clear that President Mugabe and a significant number of his powerful ‘old guard’ are driving a call for general elections as early as mid-2012 and are bent on determining when they are held. Mugabe has also threatened to abandon the completion of a draft new Constitution and force through elections under the old ‘Lancaster House’ Constitution of 1979, which some believe could effectively and irrevocably collapse the Global Political Agreement (GPA), signed in September 2008.
Violence is reported by Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politicians and NGOs to be on the increase, both in rural and urban areas, to the extent that some MDC MPs cannot safely enter their own constituencies. Zanu-PF’s evolving ‘parallel administration’ is openly seeking support and resources from China and Iran, while diamonds are reportedly being clandestinely siphoned off and sold to build up Zanu-PF’s ‘war chest’. Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere is brazenly admitting that the indigenisation exercise is designed to be a vote-buying exercise to benefit Zanu-PF supporters.
On the ground, Zanu-PF’s entrenched abuse of State apparatus is clearly demonstrated in the current and almost routine banning of numerous MDC rallies and gatherings, and the illegal arrest of their members for attending legitimate private party meetings. The police crackdown on student voices is also escalating. In the rural areas, hijacking of donor food aid by Zanu-PF officials is becoming increasingly commonplace once again, with food being openly denied to many MDC supporters close to starvation. The main causes of the food deficit are drought conditions – mainly in the traditionally drought-prone provinces – and the collapse of commercial agriculture.
In Parliament, Zanu-PF is deliberately blocking debate on any legislation that could potentially strengthen the hand of coalition parties. The allocation of licences to ‘free the airwaves’ is being blocked by the skewed and delayed allocation of licences.
A total of 78 media articles were recorded during March for ZIG Watch, each representing a unique breach of the terms of the GPA. Representative statistics were generated by categorising the articles according to the nature of the breach.
The greatest number of violations involved the category featuring cases of legal harassment of perceived opposition politicians and supporters. This was followed by cases of violence, intimidation, hate speech, threats, abductions and brutality. Next were cases of denial of the right to freedom of speech, or the abuse of freedom of speech, while the fourth highest involved cases of deliberate or consequential economic destabilisation. Zanu-PF was either responsible for, or involved in, all breaches recorded.
Of particular note is the number of cases of legal harassment, at 38.5% of the total, which far outstripped the second highest category of violence and intimidation – at 16.7%. This is clearly owing to the deliberate use of delays and postponements by amenable judges and State prosecutors to drag out cases as long as possible. The strategy is to keep MDC supporters and perceived opponents of Zanu-PF tied up in court or on remand, to curtail their political activities, cripple them financially and systematically demoralise them, thus limiting their effectiveness.
Within the 78 recorded breaches for March are at least 13 different cases of legal harassment. These range from a high-profile murder trial to the clandestine harassment by police of the mainstream Anglican Church in Harare which is being victimised by ex-communicated Anglican bishop Nobert Kunonga, an ardent supporter of President Mugabe.
April
During April, Sokwanele observed a small number of notable changes in the political landscape that may turn out to be significant in the short to medium term. The general chaos and levels of violence, harassment and corruption have not changed but, significantly, President Mugabe’s plans to railroad through an early general election have hit a serious snag.
Zanu-PF had been uniting to attack and discredit the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC)-led process and its new draft Constitution, which could lead to a constitutional crisis. However, in the interim, Zanu-PF’s internal political succession issues have escalated over the month at an alarming rate, with severe outbreaks of violence. So serious is the problem that President Mugabe has spoken openly about it in public, and there are indications that he may be changing his stance on early elections to give Zanu-PF time to get its house in order.
In the business sector, Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere continued to cause alarm and despondency to the point of economic destabilisation in his relentless and at times patently illegal drive to seize control of companies owned by foreigners or whites. Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo exacerbated the level of chaos by obstructing, discrediting or removing elected MDC officials in Local Councils across the country. Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa finally admitted to subverting the legally established process of diamond sales, a fact previously believed, but now confirmed.
A total of 61 media articles were recorded during April for ZIG Watch. As was the case in March, the greatest number of violations involved cases of violence, intimidation, hate speech, threats, abductions and brutality. This was followed closely by cases of legal harassment of perceived opposition politicians and supporters. Cases of deliberate or consequential economic destabilisation shared a joint third place with cases of subversion of legal, or legally established processes. Zanu-PF was either responsible for, or involved in 98.4% of all breaches recorded.
To complete our report, we have compiled and appended ten articles to represent media coverage of events in relation to the GPA during March and April. This list is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive because of the sheer volume of articles. We invite our readers to review the list of summarised articles, original articles (links provided) and previously captured articles, on the webpage http://www.sokwanele.com/zigwatch and ask you to share this information with your colleagues and other interested parties.
Our first article for March is in the harassment category and retells the painfully long history of efforts to arrange bail for 29 MDC-T members facing charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View. On 19 March the application was postponed for the seventh time. This time the postponement was due to a power blackout in central Harare. The activists now have to wait until 21 March for the hearing to go before Justice Chinembiri Bhunu. Twice during the previous week the hearing was postponed because the Judge reportedly fell sick. Prior to this, Judge Felistas Chitakunye postponed the hearing twice to examine the defence’s bail application. When the defence filed for a fresh bail application soon after the group was taken into custody early this month, the hearing was postponed to allow State prosecutors time to make a response.
Armed police officers raided the Harare residence of MDC-T Chief of Staff, Abisha Nyanguwo, at around 5am on 22 March, searching for weapons of war. Nyanguwo’s lawyer denied them entry as they did not have a search warrant. Reinforcements arrived with a search warrant, claiming that the raid was in connection with the bombing of Zanu-PF’s Gweru offices in December 2011. The search failed to reveal any weapons and no-one was arrested. Police then impounded Nyanguwo’s vehicle, alleging that it had been used in the bombing. It is believed that the bombing is another set-up job by Zanu-PF, and that police are trying to manufacture evidence in order to frame Nyanguwo for the supposed ‘crime’.
A report dated 2 March indicates that police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri has involved himself in a legal battle with women activists who claim police are forcing them to remove their underwear in dirty police holding cells, while withholding sanitary wear. It is common practice for those in detention to be forced to wear only one piece of clothing on the upper body, and one on the lower. This forces women in dresses into the dehumanising position of going without underwear, tantamount to violence against women. Lawyers for the women are taking legal action against Chihuri after he admitted to holding female suspects in male prison cells and vowed not to provide sanitary wear for the inmates. The appalling and unsanitary conditions at Harare Central Police Station holding cells are degrading in the extreme and are likely to lead to further outbreaks of disease. In one example, a woman was advised by a male police officer to wipe herself with her bare hands after using the toilet because there was no toilet paper.
The racially-driven indigenisation exercise being championed by Zanu-PF has ironically come to haunt one of its rich and controversial white supporters. In a report dated 11 March, the US$600 million Chisumbanje ethanol project is threatened with collapse as Zanu-PF chefs, including Cabinet ministers, demand free shares in the venture under the guise of indigenisation, after realising its financial potential. The project is a partnership between the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and Billy Rautenbach’s Green Fuels, Rating and Macdom Investments in a 20-year Build-Operate-and-Transfer arrangement signed in 2009. The greedy politicians are claiming Rautenbach, born in Zimbabwe, but not ‘indigenous’, has to cede a 51% shareholding to them in accordance with the Indigenisation Act. “He is Zimbabwean, but of the wrong colour,” said the source.
Freedom of speech continues to be under assault. In a report dated 23 March, Information Minister Webster Shamu snubbed calls for media reforms, which were allegedly ordered by the principals of the GPA. Prime Minister Tsvangirai told journalists last month he had met with President Mugabe and Deputy President Mutambara, who had agreed to reform the boards of three key media institutions, as the latter had been illegally appointed. They gave Shamu until March 12 to implement changes. Minister Shamu deliberately delayed until now when, according to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), he said the boards of the ZBC and Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) are “here to stay” because they were appointed “legally”. The third board is that of the Mass Media Trust.
In April’s category of violence, intimidation, hate speech, threats, abductions and brutality, the consequences of Zanu-PF’s violent and inhumane intimidation of rural villagers are recorded. This is a worrying situation being repeated across the country. In an article dated 1 April, desperate Buhera villagers blamed Zanu-PF officials and war veterans for exposing them to permanent hunger after they chased away two NGOs providing them with food. The long dry spell has hit villagers hard. “If we do not get food soon people might die. The NGOs ran irrigation schemes that sustained us. Now they have gone, most of us are hungry,” said a village elder in Chief Nyashanu’s area. “The donors worked tirelessly to save us from hunger. I do not have anyone to look after me. The donors used to look after me, but they have gone. Who will look after me?” an elderly villager asked.
The next article, dated 13 April, shows the impunity with which Zanu-PF thugs perpetrate violence – this time in a high-density suburb near Harare. The violent Zanu-PF youth gang, Chipangano that has terrorised residents of Mbare has started campaigning for the party. Innocent residents are being forced to reveal their personal details and are being ordered to vote for Robert Mugabe in the next election. Gang members have been regularly forcing anyone they can find to attend Zanu-PF rallies in the area. In a recent incident on 7 April near Mbare Netball Complex, people with no identity documents had to reveal their personal details to the group, on the promise that Chipangano would approach the Registrar General for ‘help’ in registering them to vote.
Also in the category of violence, but this time within Zanu-PF, members turned on each other at a party meeting in Nyanga on 26 April to discuss the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections. The meeting disintegrated into an all-out brawl, as tensions between rival factions of Zanu-PF came to a head, and scores sustained minor injuries. Riot police were called to separate the warring factions, but no-one was arrested. Skirmishes are common in Zanu-PF politics, but this incident was particularly violent and is significant because it marks an escalation of the showdown between loyalists of Vice President Joice Mujuru and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The category profiling cases of subversion of legal, or legally established processes includes an article dated 14 April which reports that Finance Minister Tendai Biti (MDC-T) has criticised the manner in which the indigenisation law is being interpreted and applied. He implicitly dismissed the overtures being made by the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, who has threatened to seize substantial shareholding of banks, under the guise of the law. “This act has been misinterpreted…,” said Biti, “… [it] says it is the intention to reach … 51% ownership, so it’s discretionary. …..” Kasukuwere has also threatened to nationalise mines, where such provision does not exist in the law.
In a surprising turn of events, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has confirmed widespread fears of ongoing military involvement in the country’s diamond industry. Mnangagwa told an audience at Midlands State University in Gweru on 25 April that army deals were struck with diamond companies from China, Russia and other nations as part of efforts to counter Western targeted sanctions. He said the trade deals “to a large extent, stabilise industry and eliminate chances of internal economic sabotage.” This information may well explain the low receipts from diamond sales as received by the Ministry of Finance.
Bail
hearing for 29 MDC-T activists postponed for 7th time
SW Radio Africa (ZW):
19/03/2012
The bail hearing for 29 MDC-T members, facing charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View, was on Monday postponed for the seventh time. Monday’s postponement was due to a power blackout in central Harare. The activists now have to wait until Wednesday for the hearing to go before Justice Chinembiri Bhunu. Twice last week the hearing was postponed because the Judge fell sick. Before that Judge Felistas Chitakunye postponed the hearing twice to examine the state’s response to the defence’s bail application. When the defence filed for a fresh bail application, soon after the group was taken into custody early this month, the hearing was postponed to allow state prosecutors time to make a response.
Police
raid senior MDC official’s Harare home
ZimEye:
22/03/2012
Armed police officers today at around 5am, raided the residence of MDC Chief of Staff, Abisha Nyanguwo in Harare, claiming to search for weapons of war, before they impounded his Isuzu double cab vehicle. Police went to Nyanguwo’s house but were denied entry by his lawyer because they did not have a search warrant. Police called for reinforcements and officers from Harare’s Law and Order Section arrived with a search warrant, claiming the raid was in connection with the bombing of Zanu-PF’s Gweru offices. They searched the house but failed to find any weapons and no-one was arrested. Police then impounded his vehicle on allegations that it had been used to bomb the Gweru offices in December 2011.
Chihuri
sucked in underwear fight
Daily News (ZW):
02/03/2012
Police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri is involved in a fight with women activists who claim police are forcing them to remove their underwear in dirty police holding cells, while withholding sanitary wear. Lawyers for the women are taking legal action against Chihuri after he admitted to holding female suspects in male prison cells and vowed not to provide sanitary wear for the inmates. So appalling are the conditions at Harare Central Police Station holding cells that one of the women taking Chihuri to court says she was advised by a male police officer to use bare hands to clean herself after using the toilet because there was no toilet paper, according to court papers.
Zanu-PF
chefs plan to grab ethanol project
Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW):
11/03/2012
The US$600 million Chisumbanje ethanol project is threatened with collapse as Zanu-PF chefs, including Cabinet ministers, demand free shares in the lucrative venture under the guise of indigenisation. “The sharks have realised the potential of the project and their mouths are wide open, ready to pounce,” said one of the sources. The project is a partnership between the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and Billy Rautenbach’s Green Fuels, Rating and Macdom Investments in a 20-year Build-Operate-and-Transfer arrangement signed in 2009. Some politicians claim Rautenbach, born in Zimbabwe, but not indigenous, has to cede 51% shareholding to them in accordance with the Indigenisation Act. “He is Zimbabwean, but of the wrong colour,” said the source.
Information Minister says no to media reforms
SW
Radio Africa (ZW): 23/03/2012
Information Minister Webster Shamu has snubbed calls for media reforms, which were allegedly ordered by the principals of the GPA. Prime Minister Tsvangirai told journalists last month he had met with Mugabe and Mutambara, who had agreed to reform the boards of three key media institutions, as the latter had been illegally appointed. They gave Shamu until March 12th to implement changes. But Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba caused confusion immediately after the announcement by dismissing the claims, saying no reforms had been agreed to and the boards were legal. Minister Shamu delayed until now, when, according to ZBC, he said the boards of the ZBC and Broadcasting Authority (BAZ) are “here to stay” because they were appointed “legally”.
NGOs
chased away
Zimbabwean, The (ZW): 01/04/2012
Desperate Buhera villagers have blamed Zanu-PF officials and war veterans for exposing them to permanent hunger after they chased away two NGOs providing them with food. The long dry spell has hit them hard. “If we do not get food soon people might die. We had irrigation schemes that sustained us with the help of NGOs. Since they have gone, most of us are hungry,” said Tonderai Mushavaviri, a village elder in Chief Nyashanu area. “The donors worked tirelessly to save us from hunger. I do not have anyone to look after me. The donors used to look after me, but they have gone. Who will look after me?” said an elderly villager, Stanslaas Taremeredzwa.
Violent
Chipangano gang campaigning for Zanu-PF
SW Radio Africa (ZW):
13/04/2012
The violent Zanu-PF youth gang that has terrorised residents of Mbare suburb in Harare has started campaigning for the party, forcing innocent civilians to reveal their personal details and ordering them to vote for Robert Mugabe in the next election. The gang, operating with impunity and the support of top Zanu-PF officials, has been regularly forcing residents, vendors and passers-by to attend Zanu-PF rallies held in the area. The most recent incident occurred last Saturday at Number Five grounds near Mbare Netball Complex, where people with no identity documents were forced to reveal their details to the group, on the promise that Chipangano would approach the Registrar General for help in registering them to vote.
Zanu-PF
supporters come to blows in Nyanga
SW Radio Africa
(ZW): 26/04/2012
A Zanu-PF meeting to discuss the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections disintegrated into an all-out brawl on Thursday, as tensions between rival factions came to a head in Nyanga. Scores of people sustained minor injuries. Police in riot gear intervened and managed to separate the warring factions. No one was arrested. While skirmishes are common in Zanu-PF’s messy politics, Thursday morning’s incident at the Nyanga Country Club appeared to be particularly violent and marks an escalation in the showdown between the political camps of Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa. The reason for the violence was differences of opinion regarding the conduct of the DCC elections.
Kasukuwere
misinterpreting indigenisation law — Biti
Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW):
14/04/2012
Finance minister Tendai Biti has criticised the manner in which the indigenisation law is being interpreted and applied. He implicitly dismissed the overtures being made by the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, who threatened to seize substantial shareholding of banks under the guise of the law. “This act has been misinterpreted. … this act says it shall be the endeavour of government to ensure that every company in Zimbabwe that is foreign-owned is at least 51%-owned (locally),” said Biti. Said Biti, “The law does not say that every foreign-owned company shall be 51%-owned, … [it] says it is the intention to reach … 51% ownership, so it’s discretionary. …..”
Mnangagwa
admits army involvement in diamond trade
SW Radio Africa (ZW):
25/04/2012
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has confirmed fears of ongoing military involvement in the country’s diamond industry, which human rights campaigners have for years linked to abuses in the Chiadzwa diamonds fields. Mnangagwa told an audience at Midlands State University in Gweru that army deals were struck with diamond companies from China, Russia and other nations as part of efforts to counter Western targeted sanctions. He said the trade deals “to a large extent, stabilise industry and eliminate chances of internal economic sabotage.” Analyst Clifford Mashiri meanwhile said there is little surprise that China and Russia have been linked to the Zimbabwean army, saying it justifies concerns already raised about their dealings in the local diamond industry.
BILL WATCH
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES SERIES
[29th May
2012]
Committee Meetings Open to the Public 28th to 31st
May
Parliament
has circulated one change to the list of open committee meetings notified in the
Bill Watch – Parliamentary Committees Series bulletin dated 28th May. The committee concerned is the Portfolio
Committee on Small and Medium Enterprise.
Its meeting originally scheduled for today at 10 am will now be held on
Thursday with a different agenda [see
below].
For
the convenience of interested parties we set out the full revised list of open
meetings for Thursday only [there are no committee meetings on Wednesday 30th
May]:
Thursday 31st May at 9 am
Portfolio
Committee: Small & Medium Enterprises [AS RESCHEDULED]
Oral evidence from Zimbabwe National Cooperative Federation on their
operations and challenges
Committee Room No. 1
Chairperson: Hon R. Moyo
Clerk: Ms Mushunje
Thematic
Committee: Human Rights
Oral evidence from Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee on
its operations
Committee
Room No. 2
Chairperson:
Hon Marava Clerk:
Ms Macheza
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information
supplied