The Times
August 14, 2008
Bronwen Maddox, Chief Foreign Commentator
The
divisive deal that Robert Mugabe struck to keep himself in power was in
question yesterday as Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader, quit
talks in the hope of more concessions.
Tsvangirai, the leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, which won a
parliamentary majority in March,
appears to reckon that it is irrelevant
that Mugabe has split the MDC, doing
a deal with a small faction to give
himself nominal control of parliament
once more. Tsvangirai's calculation is
that no deal that lacks his signature
is worth anything; nor will aid and
international recognition come back
until he is given a real role in the
government.
He may be
overplaying his hand. Yesterday he was described by those close to
the talks
as very buoyant, believing that he had put the ball in Mugabe's
court. But
in a game of bluff which is far from over, he is reckoning that
the world
thinks he is indispensable to Zimbabwe's future. He may be right,
but that
doesn't mean that Mugabe will recognise this as pressure, and
respond in the
way that Tsvangirai - and much of the world - is hoping.
Mugabe's latest
manoeuvre to keep himself in power came to a climax on
Tuesday night, when
he struck a deal for a coalition government with Arthur
Mutambara, leader of
a faction of the MDC, in talks brokered by President
Mbeki of South Africa.
On paper, this would give Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party,
together with Mutabara's
MDC faction, 109 seats to Tsvangirai's 100.
But many agree with
Tsvangirai that "the world will not re-engage with
Zimbabwe until the MDC is
on board and really has a role," as Richard
Dowden, Director of the Royal
African Society, said. "A deal stitched up by
Mugabe, Mutambara and Mbeki
isn't going to stick," he added.
That is clearly the calculation that
Tsvangirai has made, despite Mbeki's
attempts to present this as progress.
He has been buoyed up by the blast of
international support for his demand,
which, in its simplest form, is to be
made prime minister with executive
power, leaving Mugabe as something of a
figurehead. Tsvangirai may travel to
South Africa before this weekend's
regional summit to try to convince Mbeki
of this requirement of legitimacy.
But others take a cooler view of the
strengths of his position. "Neither MDC
faction is negotiating from a
particularly strong position," argues Tom
Cargill, manager of the Chatham
House think-tank's Africa Programme. "They
have none of the levers of power
within Zimbabwe, in the military or
economic spheres."
At the moment,
the Army has thrown its support behind Mugabe, in line with
the
self-interest of its senior members. They want protection of their
commercial interests, as well as protection from the potential charges a new
president might bring. Although they might, in theory, be persuaded to back
someone new, at the moment they clearly do not.
The ideal, Cargill
argues, is for Tsvangirai to be given the executive
powers he wants. But
"the best we can probably hope for," he added, "is some
cobbled-together
agreement which needs to include Tsvangirai but might not
be substantive."
It would, however, have to include a promise from Mugabe to
work within
parliamentary processes, something that many Zanu (PF) members
want too as
they do not want the Army calling the shots. That would allow
Mugabe to
retire soon by choice, and to maintain that he was not forced out,
and that
his legacy was safe. "Zimbabwe needs a younger generation of
politicians
from all parties to be given a chance to sort out the mess,"
Cargill said.
"While Mugabe is there, it won't be."
Even that sketch remains out of
reach at the moment, as Mugabe has offered
nothing like that in these talks.
Any movement will probably have to wait
for next week. Not much is likely to
happen before the regional summit in
South Africa this weekend, chaired by
Mbeki (though Tsvangirai may try to
pitch up there first to bend the South
African leader's ear). Nor is there
going to be any more talk of sanctions
in the UN unless Tsvangirai says that
he can get no satisfactory concessions
from these talks.
The next week will begin to show whether Tsvangirai is
justified in his
confidence in using international support as a bargaining
chip in wrestling
with a leader who has never attached much value to that
commodity.
VOA
By Blessng Zulu, Thomas Chiripasi & Carole
Gombakomba
Harare & Washington
13 August
2008
South African President Thabo Mbeki said Wednesday he
remains hopeful a
power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwe's long-ruling
ZANU-PF and the
Movement for Democratic Change can be reached soon despite
indications the
talks are virtually deadlocked, but developments on the
ground in the
country threatened the crisis resolution
process.
President Robert Mugabe and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai
have been unable
to agree on a formula for the amount of power each of them
would wield in a
cooperative government and also on whether a new
constitution is needed or
if amendments will suffice.
Mr. Mbeki,
mediator in the talks on behalf of the Southern African
Development
Community, was in Angola on Wednesday briefing President Jose
Eduardo dos
Santos, head of SADC's organ on politics and defense which has
an oversight
brief in the negotiations.
Mr. Mbeki asked all concerned to give the
process time, but reports from the
state-controlled Herald newspaper warned
that President Mugabe has run out
of patience.
The Herald said Mr.
Mugabe intended to announce a new cabinet and would call
parliament back
into session "soon." Such a course of action would breach
the memorandum of
understanding signed July 21 by the three parties to the
negotiating
process, which include Tsvangirai and rival MDC formation leader
Arthur
Mutambara.
Tsvangirai said Thursday that he is "committed to reaching
an agreement that
upholds the will of the people." Tsvangirai was expected
to travel to
Pretoria shortly to brief SADC leaders on the sidelines of the
regional
summit which is to open there on Friday.
But Zimbabwean
security sources told VOA that Tsvangirai might be prevented
from leaving
the country, contributing to a rise in tension in the country.
Secretary
General Tendai Biti of the Tsvangirai MDC formation told reporter
Blessing
Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that all eyes are now on Mbeki
to
salvage the talks.
Meanwhile, Harare correspondent Thomas Chiripasi
reported that Mutambara in
a news conference disclaimed reports he had
reached a power-sharing
agreement with president Robert Mugabe which did not
have the accord of
Tsvangirai.
Poliitical analyst Charles Mangongera
said Mr. Mbeki can still pull out a
power-sharing deal, but emphasized that
he must broaden the mediation
process.
With SADC heads of state
and government due in Pretoria shortly, Mr. Mbeki,
to assume the SADC
rotating chairmanship during the summit, is under some
pressure to show
results from the talks or at least progress pointing to a
successful
near-term conclusion.
SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said the
summit agenda includes the
launch of a free trade zone and political
problems in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, among other countries, as well
as the xenophobic attacks
that broke out in South Africa in May.
But
the Zimbabwe talks have a high profile and Mr. Mbeki is expected to
report
back to the SADC leaders on the status of the talks.
Political analyst
Farai Maguwu told reporter Carole Gombakomba that while
Mbeki may not have a
breakthrough to report, he nonetheless has positive
elements to
highlight.
Independent, UK
By Basildon Peta in
Johannesburg and Daniel Howden
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Morgan
Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, has refused to be pushed
into a
deal that would leave Robert Mugabe in effective control of the
country. The
man regarded by many as the president-elect said Mr Mugabe
would have to
cede power before any agreement on a government of national
unity would be
possible.
Claims from the Mugabe camp that it had divided the opposition
appeared to
be unfounded.
Mr Tsvangirai said his rival must back down
or negotiations would collapse,
a source close to the talks told The
Independent. Mr Tsvangirai walked out
of talks late on Tuesday night after
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki,
who is mediator, tried to push him
into an agreement that would have made
him prime minister in name alone,
leaving executive power in the hands of
President Mugabe.
Mr
Tsvangirai, who won more votes than his rivals in a March election, is
demanding executive powers be transferred to a prime ministerial position
before he will sign up to any deal. He has come under intense pressure from
three sides, as Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a smaller opposition
faction, has joined Mr Mbeki and Mr Mugabe in pushing for the 84-year-old
President to hold on to as much power as possible. The Mugabe regime is
determined to retain control of the security services while leaving Mr
Tsvangirai to sort out the devastated economy.
There is increasing
anger in the impoverished nation over the role of Mr
Mutambara, who has
positioned himself closer to the Mugabe camp in a bid to
get a government
role despite his lack of popular support. He failed to win
a seat at the
election and his faction has only 10 MPs. While he stopped
short of saying
he had signed up to the Mugabe plan, yesterday he called on
Mr Tsvangirai to
make concessions for the good of the country.
A senior official in Mr
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said
there was a major
disagreement on the section of the draft agreement - drawn
up with the South
Africans - dealing with the powers of the prime minister
to appoint, chair
and run cabinet issues as executive head of government.
The wording of that
section would have reduced the post of premier to that
of ceremonial status,
preserving Mr Mugabe's enormous power.
The source said Mr Tsvangirai
raised serious objections but his rival would
not concede and denied that
the talks had collapsed, saying the opposition
leader would return to the
negotiations when the Mugabe camp changed its
position.
"They have
only collapsed in the sense that there won't be a deal before
Mbeki leaves
as originally planned," said the source.
"They have only collapsed in the
sense that the deadline for a deal has not
been met. But they have not
collapsed forever because there is still room
for more dialogue and a
consensus can still be reached if Mugabe reconsiders
his stance. The ball is
in his court. There is no way we can budge on this
fundamental issue
[configuration of powers]."
Attempts by Mr Mbeki yesterday to spin the
MDC leader's departure as a
period of consultation with his party was
denied. The MDC maintains that Mr
Mugabe can remain as head of state only if
he concedes actual power.
Any deal is supposed to be endorsed by all
three parties but this does not
preclude Mr Mugabe and Mr Mutambara from
doing their a separate deal outside
the current mediation. Mr Mutambara is
understood to be pushing for a
position of deputy prime minister in a new
government, but if he abandons
the main opposition leader to land the job he
is likely to be reviled by
much of the country.
Any such agreement
would also hand a slim parliamentary majority to Mr
Mugabe and his ruling
Zanu-PF party but it would do nothing to deliver the
massive external aid
needed to refloat the economy. Mr Tsvangirai's main
strength is his clear
backing from the international donor community.
The Scotsman
Published Date: 14 August 2008
By Jane Fields
in
Zimbabwe
HOPES for a speedy settlement to Zimbabwe's crisis faded yesterday
when
South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki left Harare with no sign of a deal
between Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr
Mbeki said Zimbabwe's rivals needed "space," according to
state-controlled
ZBC radio.
The South African president had mediated three days of talks
between Mr
Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a
faction of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mr
Mbeki said he remained "confident" that all three parties would find a
resolution.
"We have dealt with all the critical elements on which
president Mugabe and
Mr Mutambara agree, but there's disagreement with one
element over which
Morgan Tsvangirai has asked for more time to reflect," Mr
Mbeki said.
Unconfirmed reports say the talks stalled late on Tuesday
after the
84-year-old Mr Mugabe refused to grant Mr Tsvangirai the position
of prime
minister with executive powers.
The Zimbabwean leader is
adamant his controversial victory in a sham 27 June
poll must be
recognised.
However, Mr Tsvangirai wants his victory in the first round
of presidential
elections on 29 March to be the starting point for a future
government. He
pulled out of the June second round, claiming more than 100
of his
supporters had been killed.
Mr Mutambara's faction has denied
claims by state-run media it signed a deal
with Mr Mugabe that sidelined Mr
Tsvangirai. However, an official from Mr
Mutambara's faction said if the
talks collapse, one option "might include a
bilateral agreement with either
of the other two parties".
A deal involving Mr Mugabe and Mr Mutambara is
likely to be viewed as yet
another betrayal by the majority of opposition
supporters.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
13 August
2008
Zimbabwean civil society leaders unhappy with the
direction of ongoing
power-sharing talks are threatening demonstrations to
express displeasure
with what they say is an undue focus on politics and
insufficient attention
to a deepening economic and social
crisis.
National Constitutional Assembly Chairman Lovemore Madhuku said
his group
and other non-governmental organizations plan to stage
demonstrations on
occasions such as the Southern African Development
Community summit opening
Friday in Pretoria.
Also on the cards are
petitions to the principals in the talks and a
grassroots campaign to push
for an expanded mediation process bringing in
civil society
representatives.
Madhuku told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that
the NCA and other non-governmental organizations believe
civic groups could
play a balancing role in ensuring that the interests of
ordinary Zimbabweans
are addressed.
OhMyNews
The
process must reflect the hopes and aspirations of the people
Masimba Biriwasha
Published 2008-08-14 04:34 (KST)
For the
past few weeks, the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, have
been
awash with talk about ongoing talks between incumbent President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) aimed at breaking the country's political stalemate.
With
neither the ballot nor the bullet being a solution to the stalemate,
much
hope has been staked on the talks.
The talks, which are being brokered by
South African President Thabo Mbeki
are seen as the last trump card in
halting Zimbabwe's downward spiral.
However, the talks which are coming
in the wake of a negotiated political
setup in Kenya are seen as setting a
precedent in Africa in which the
people's voting power plays second fiddle
to political expediency in the
democratic process.
And with Mugabe
clinging to executive powers won on the back of political
mayhem,
intimidation, and murder of opposition activists, there is but
little
headway in the talks achieving a credible solution.
Already, the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which played a key
role in the formation of
the MDC in 1999, has dismissed the power sharing
talks as
inconsequential.
Although the street talk is filled with a lot of
optimism that this time the
talks will usher a resolution to the country's
longstanding political
problems, the road to be traversed ahead is still
filled with major
challenges.
There is no doubt that a political
resolution is the first key step to the
country's recovery for a myriad of
misplaced policies pursued by Mugabe's
government for the past 7 to 10
years.
With the ballot box having failed to resolve the country's
political
problems, dialogue appears to be the only way to find a peaceful
and
democratic solution to avert the country's Humpty Dumpty-like
fall.
Failure of the ongoing dialogue process will propel the country
toward the
brink of collapse, further plunging the citizens of Zimbabwe into
a state of
unprecedented suffering.
The gravity of the economic
situation is indeed forcing the major political
actors to avoid playing
hardball. But within both the ZANU-PF and MDC
political camps there are
fears that each is compromising too much.
Whatever the case, Zimbabwe's
economy has suffered terribly over the past
decade and rebuilding it will
require numerous sacrifices, and the road
ahead will not necessarily be a
rosy one for ordinary Zimbabweans.
While political reconciliation is a
key first step, there are legal,
constitutional, social and land
appropriation issues that have to be put on
the table to give the country a
firm foundation to progress into the future.
The rule of law is perhaps
what has suffered the most in the past 10 years
with there being no clear
separation of powers between the executive,
judiciary and the
legislature.
Furthermore, the role of civil society in the ongoing
negotiations is very
obscure, which means that a significant sector of the
Zimbabwean populace is
already excluded from the process.
The fact of
the matter is that the ongoing political problems in Zimbabwe
are more than
just a battle between ZANU-PF and the MDC. So once the sticky
issues between
the major political players are resolved, the dialogue
process will need to
involve a greater part of the population in the
country.
In addition,
a mere paper-based political deal will do little to resolve the
country's
fundamental problems. Put simply, the ongoing talks are dominated
more by
political characters than by national interests or the common good.
By
focusing only on the political characters, the talks are forestalling
productive political dialogue aimed at addressing several outstanding issues
responsible for the country's current ossification, including land tenure,
human rights abuses, separation of powers and constitutional
reform.
To be successful, the process of political dialogue and deal
making must
reflect the hopes and aspirations of the people as well as
receive the
blessings of the international community.
There is danger
that the ongoing talks will only result in a superficial
deal that does
little to change the destiny of Zimbabwe.
In the absence of a broad based
political settlement, the nation of Zimbabwe
will continue down the road of
further disintegration and decline. The
decline will adversely affect all
sectors of society. There will be an
increase in lawlessness, brain drain,
corruption, poverty and disease.
News24
13/08/2008 21:11 -
(SA)
Pretoria - A Zimbabwean politician has failed in a Pretoria High
Court bid
to become part of his country's settlement negotiations taking
place in
South Africa.
Judge Ephraim Makgoba dismissed with costs an
urgent application by Justine
Chiota, founder and leader of the Zimbabwe
People's Party, on Tuesday
evening.
Chiota sought an order to either
allow him to participate in the talks or to
stop the talks from continuing,
pending the outcome of his Zimbabwe High
Court application to quash the
results of the presidential elections held in
March in that
country.
He cited President Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe as
respondents.
In court papers, Chiota claimed he was entitled to take part
in the
political settlement negotiations following a ruling by a Zimbabwean
court
earlier this month.
Chiota contended he was wrongly excluded
from participating in the
Zimbabwean elections after his country's electoral
commission refused to
accept his nomination papers on the basis that they
were "dirty".
He said a Zimbabwean court ruled in his favour, and ordered
the electoral
commission to declare that he had been duly nominated for the
elections.
Mbeki opposed the application, saying the Pretoria High Court
did not have
the jurisdiction to pronounce on a matter outside the
territorial
jurisdiction of the court.
The Times
August 14, 2008
Stephen Bevan: Behind the Story
Professor Arthur
Mutambara - the minor opposition leader who is said to hold
the balance of
power in talks on a government of national unity in
Zimbabwe - has never
been reticent about his achievements or ambition.
Two and a half years
ago when he granted me a rare interview in Johannesburg
he refused to get up
from his desk to pose for the photographer because his
jacket did not match
his trousers. "I'm very concerned about my image," he
said while buttoning
it up.
There is certainly nothing humble about an academic with no
political
following who decided to announce his availability for a leading
role in
Zimbabwean politics after 15 years overseas by sending out a press
release
setting out his conditions for doing so and inviting anyone who
accepted to
contact him. In the end it was Welshman Ncube, general secretary
of the then
newly formed breakaway MDC and the real power in the party, who
took the
bait.
Mr Mugabe's Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, Mr
Mugabe's Security Minister,
dismissed him as a stooge of the Americans while
others claimed that he was
a Zanu (PF) plant to further divide and weaken
the opposition.
An intense, restless and articulate 42-year-old, Dr
Mutambara has gained a
reputation for intemperate language and posturing. In
March 2007, after he
was arrested by police, he called for a declaration of
war on the
Government. More recently, the man regarded by many as a
shameless
opportunist has appeared to be currying favour with his former
enemies by
parroting Mr Mugabe's anti-Western rhetoric.
Asked if he was
concerned about the physical danger he faced being in
Zimbabwe, he said:
"I'm a revolutionary, my life is meaningless. A
revolutionary by definition
has no life. What's important to me is Zimbabwe.
Fifty years from now what
will be the Mutambara legacy?"
Professor Arthur G.O. Mutambara has a
doctorate in robotics from Oxford
University. He spent a year as a research
scientist at Nasa, taught at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
worked at the management
consultancy McKinsey & Company. His pursuit of
excellence seems to have
applied even to his choice of marriage partner. He
proudly concluded a list
of his family's academic qualifications by saying
with the fact that his
wife also has a Phd - in Strategic Marketing from
Cardiff University.
After attending Hartzell High School in Mutare, Mr
Mutambara went to the
University of Zimbabwe in Harare to study engineering.
He and was by all
accounts a brilliant student, who won every scholarship he
applied for. It
was here, in 1988, that he first became politicised. As the
secretary
general of the Student Representative Council he was among the
leaders of
the first post-independence student demonstration against
Government
corruption which was violently suppressed by the
police.
After his brief taste of student politics, Mr Mutambara appears
to have put
all his energies into his academic career. He qualified from
university and
won a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to do a Masters in
electrical
Engineering/Computer Engineering at Oxford University, and went
on to do a
Phd in Robotics and Mechatronics.
Typically, Mr Mutambara
said that he loved Oxford because it was so
competitive "academically and
socially".
Did he come across any racism while was there? "Those things
are there but
I'm a fighter and those things I just brush them off ... I
didn't suffer
because I'm a soldier, soldiers don't suffer those
things."
After Oxford he got a job teaching at an engineering college in
Florida and
then worked at the US space agency Nasa where he did research on
unmanned
robots for the Mars Rover project. Although he has been dubbed the
"rocket
scientist", his time at Nasa was brief. Indeed, From his CV, a
pattern
emerges of a man who flitted from job to job, rarely staying more
than a
year in each.
So why did he spend 15 years away from Zimbabwe?
"We all fight in different
ways," he said. "I felt I needed to go to school,
to get experience and
exposure and that will mean I can make a better
contribution to Zimbabwe.
Now the time has come for me to jump from the pan
into fire."
Financial Times
By Tom Burgis in
Johannesburg
Published: August 13 2008 23:31 | Last updated: August 13
2008 23:31
Mining group Anglo American has held secret talks with
Zimbabwe’s
opposition, that could see Anglo Platinum, its majority-owned
subsidiary,
regain lucrative concessions recently ceded to the regime of
Robert Mugabe,
the president.
In a sign of how the convulsions in
Zimbabwe could affect some of the world’s
most coveted resources, two senior
figures in the Movement for Democratic
Change told the Financial Times that
the party had held discussions with the
mining company, which has a 76 per
cent stake in Anglo Platinum.
Asked whether the talks could lead to
Anglo Platinum winning back its claims
in Great Dyke, the world’s second
richest platinum vein should the MDC win
power, one party insider said:
“Definitely.” Anglo American declined to
comment but did not deny having
discussions with the MDC.
The MDC is engaged in faltering power-sharing
negotiations with the
autocratic president after widely denounced elections,
which Mr Mugabe
claimed to have won.
It is planning a review of all
mining concessions if, as Europe and the US
insist, it heads the next
government. It would hold an investment conference
two months after the
signing of a power- sharing deal.
“We are saying: ‘You have to come
clean. We don’t want your money for the
MDC, we want you to invest in the
country.’ Because if we say, ‘you have to
give money to the party’, we are
just perpetuating Zanu-PF structures,” the
insider said, referring to Mr
Mugabe’s party.
Central African Mining and Exploration, run by Phil
Edmonds, the former
England cricketer, in April announced it had bought a 60
per cent interest
in the holding company that owns a pair of platinum claims
that Anglo
Platinum had handed over to Zimbabwe’s state-owned mining company
the same
month.
Camec paid $5m plus new shares, at the time worth
about $240m, and made the
cash-strapped government a $100m loan. The
London-listed miner declined to
comment on the MDC talks.
It forecast
it could be producing between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces of
platinum
annually from the concessions within eight months.
If Anglo Platinum
recovered its interests, that level of output would be
equivalent to about 5
per cent of the South African group’s global
production last year.
At
a price of $1,500 an ounce, the total reserves at the two sites,
estimated
at about 7.5m ounces of platinum, would be worth more than $11bn
(€8.8bn,
£5.9bn).
By Alex
Bell
13 August 2008
Fears are mounting in South Africa that there will
be another flare up of
xenophobic violence, as thousands of refugees are set
to return to the
communities they were forced to flee earlier this
year.
Hundreds of refugee camps were set up following a spate of violent
attacks
on foreigners across the country, that left more than 60 people dead
and saw
thousands of foreign nationals seeking temporary shelter at police
stations.
The attacks saw an exodus of refugees leaving South Africa to
return to
their own homelands. But with the political, economic and
humanitarian
crises worsening in Zimbabwe, the majority of exiled
Zimbabweans had no
choice but to join other refugees in the
camps.
But Friday will see the situation dramatically change, with the
Gauteng
local government saying it will close all its camps - leaving the
estimated
4 000 foreigners with the choice of returning to the townships
where they
were originally targeted, or returning to the countries they
fled.
Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe exiles forum in South Africa told
Newsreel
on Wednesday that thousands of Zimbabweans are facing a desperate
situation,
as returning home is not a possibility for them. He said
intimidation by
South African citizens in the areas has already started,
with many saying
they are "ready to kill" if foreigners return to their
communities.
Shumba added that Zimbabweans believe their only choices are
to "either die
in South Africa or die in Zimbabwe" and many have told the
Exiles forum they
would rather "sleep on the streets than return to the
communities or to
Zimbabwe". He added that Zimbabweans, like many other
foreign nationals,
"have nothing to return to" if they go back to the
communities, as many of
their homes and possessions were destroyed, and
there is no infrastructure
to support them.
The violent attacks
earlier this year saw the South African government
scramble to make amends,
but Shumba said since then the government has not
done enough to ensure
foreigners are protected, and added that the "basis
for the feelings of
xenophobia have not been removed".
On Wednesday, lawyers from The
Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South
Africa and the Wits Law
Clinic, filed an urgent application at the
Constitutional court to keep the
temporary camps open. The move came after a
Pretoria High Court dismissed
the same application on Tuesday, saying the
South African government was not
violating the rights of the refugees. The
judge added that the government
was under no obligation to come up with a
re-integration plan, and it had
"done enough" to manage the disaster.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
UNITY IS THE KEY
Unity must be
the campus which should guide the two MDC formations. What is
at stake here
is the welfare of the people at large. It is important that
the Mutambara MDC
formation must play ball with the MDC T formation as we
all know that their
strategic intent is the same despite the minor
differences they
have.
Yours
EM
----------------
NEW SANCTIONS LIST TO
INCLUDE MTAMBARA AND NCUBE
We Zimbabweans in Diaspora are so
much disappointed by the actions of
Athur Mtambara and his deputy Welshman
Ncube.If there is an element of truth
in that they signed the deal with
Mugabe, which means they are the new
double headed creatures ,political
prostitutes and current judases wo are
prepared to sell zimbabwe for a few
pieces of silver from Zanu Pf and its
ageing leader.The current problem in
Zimbabwe is not about signatures,its
not sanctions and its not foreign
currency,not even the junta no!The biggest
problem in Zimbabwe is the man
they call CDE ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE.Very soon
the herald will start
addressing his 'marriage partners' as comrade mtambara
and cde
ncube!
We are asking those who can list and impose sanctions to
include
Mtambara,Ncube and all who are willing to join Zanu Pf in the list
with
effect from the time itrs rumoured author signed.They are not
democratic
forces but Zanu Pf planted gangs with the agenda to bring down a
true
democratic party with the people,s mandate-MDC.We want Zanu Pf to carry
on
without the opposition,let them rule the country untill they are tired
and
we see how its going to end.We know everything that has momentum is
subject
to friction,lets see how the zanu pf wheel will overcome friction
without
international help.This country is going to the dogs and its all
MUgbe's
fault,he is so disappointed because he lost the people,28yrs in
office and
he cant say its enough,then his CIO spreads rumours that mugabe
is good,just
the junta and those close to him.Mugabe is the one who is
wrong,he can stop
every one in Zanu Pf because they ave appointed him a
god.Zanu Pf has
become a religious sect with mugabe being allowed to behave
like a
worshipped creature,we are saying zvakwana!NOTHING WILL MOVE,NOTHING
WILL
COME TO ZIMBABWE,CHINA IS NOT THE SOLUTION,MORGAN IS THE ONE WHO HOLDS
THE
KEY BECAUSE HE WAS ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU ROBERT IN
1980!
You rejected muzorewa's goverment because you new it was a
pro smith
government,now how can morgan join you.You know for sure with the
ground
even tilting in your favour you cant even match morgan,what more with
the
ground even!Morgan can wait,in his late fifties we can be patient even
for
another 20yrs and he will be in office,you will be 104yrs and one of the
world"s oldest person shitting yourself and half blind!If you had wisdom you
could make things ok now,there is an olive branch from the one people
appointed,leave office and retire so when you hit a century tinokuisaiwo
kuma old people's homes muchigezeswa nekupishikwa sezvatinoita chembere
dzechirungu kuno kudiaspora!