Zimbabwe endgame
Private pressure
is better than public
Leader
Saturday August 24,
2002
The
Guardian
How to bring pressure to
bear on a regime which is oppressing and damaging its own people is one of the
perennial problems of international politics. Attempts from outside to force a
government to adopt different policies or to actually force out a government can
so easily produce the opposite of the effect intended, quite apart from any
objections in principle on the grounds of sovereignty. In the case of Zimbabwe,
the problem is made more difficult by the reluctance of other African countries
to take a strong public stance against a fraternal country, especially if it
looks as if they are doing so at western urging.
The solution put forward by Michael Ancram in the
article he contributed to the Guardian this week is that Tony Blair take the
lead in waking up Zimbabwe's neighbours to their responsibilities by refusing to
participate in discussions relating to Africa at the earth summit in
Johannesburg next week and refusing to sign up to any sections of the final
communique that cover African development. Iain Duncan Smith has supported his
shadow foreign secretary to the extent of calling on Mr Blair not to share a
platform with Robert Mugabe. The difficulty with these proposals is that they
call for a disruption of international negotiations, a tactic of which in other
circumstances British politicians of all parties have been rightly critical, and
they involve a grandstanding approach likely to produce a confrontation that
will help nobody. It is not that there is anything wrong in proposing a
connection between development aid and good government. But such connections are
best made in private, especially if they tend toward the threatening end of the
diplomatic spectrum.
Earlier this week, American officials revealed that
the United States was providing advice, training and finance to Zimbabwean
unions, human rights groups and journalists. America's assistant secretary of
state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner, took a robust line by stating that
"the political status quo" in Zimbabwe was "unacceptable because the elections
were fraudulent" and that the United States would work with other countries in
the region "to correct that situation". We can take these American remarks as
code for exactly the kind of calls on the neighbours which Mr Ancram and Mr
Duncan Smith demand and which we can be certain the UK as well as the US are
already making privately.
Straw attacks Tory plan to tackle Mugabe
Aid link would punish all of Africa, say critics
Nicholas Watt, political Correspondent
Saturday August 24,
2002
The Guardian
Iain Duncan Smith was accused yesterday of planning
to inflict "cruel" punishment on Africa after he called for British aid to the
entire continent to be linked to reforms in Zimbabwe.
Amid unease among senior Tory MPs at the
proposal, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, warned that it would be wrong to
"punish the whole of Africa for the sins of one man".
Mr Straw spoke out after the Tory leader called
on Tony Blair to use next week's earth summit in Johannesburg to force
Zimbabwe's neighbours to crack down on Robert Mugabe. In a letter to the prime
minister, Mr Duncan Smith said that British aid to the Nepad investment
programme for Africa should be tied to "effective action against Mugabe".
The shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram,
went further in a Guardian article yesterday, calling on Mr Blair to refuse to
discuss African development at the summit if Zimbabwe's neighbours do not pledge
tougher action.
The Tory plans were angrily dismissed by Mr
Straw who said that Britain had been in the forefront of international
opposition to Zimbabwe, leading to its suspensions from the Commonwealth.
"Today's suggestion from Mr Duncan Smith that
the aid and investment programme for the whole of Africa [Nepad] be put on hold
as a result of the Mugabe regime is particularly ill-considered," he said.
"Not only would it hinder attempts to isolate Mugabe, but its cruel effect
would be to pun ish the whole of Africa for the sins of one man. In doing so it
would push back the prospects for a continent which has suffered for too long
from hunger, mismanagement and disease.
"There has never been any question of the
current regime in Zimbabwe benefiting from Nepad."
The Tory call for Britain
to step back from ambitious plans for the development of Africa - one of the key
goals of the prime minister's foreign policy - was dismissed last night by a
senior Tory MP.
Tony Baldry, the chairman of the Commons
international development select committee who will go to the earth summit as
part of the official British delegation, said: "We obviously want to do
everything we can to promote good governance in Zimbabwe. But it is perilous to
be too rigid in linking humanitarian support to good governance.
"What is happening in Zimbabwe is inexcusable
and it is extremely disappointing there has not been greater peer pressure from
its neighbours. But it would be difficult to focus the entire summit on one
country."
Mr Baldry's remarks highlighted unease among
some Tory MPs that the party leadership has overplayed its hand by calling for
Britain to abandon its extensive aid programmes in Africa because of the
Zimbabwe situation.
There are concerns that Mr Duncan Smith, who
served in Rhodesia as an army officer during the run-up to independence, is
making headlines out of an issue that appeals to core Tory voters. "You should
see the postbags Conservative MPs get on Zimbabwe," one senior Tory said.
The latest row between the Conservatives and
the government was sparked when Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Ancram called on the
prime minister to protest against Mr Mugabe by refusing to appear on the same
platform during the Johannesburg summit.
The environment secretary, Margaret Beckett,
who leads the main British delegation, told the Today programme Britain was
determined not to allow the issue of Zimbabwe to hijack the summit.
"The Zimbabwean government is under no illusion
about the British government's attitude to the policies that they have been
pursuing," she said. "Indeed some of the rudest things that have ever been said
about Tony Blair have been said by Robert Mugabe because of the British
government's opposition."
Mr Ancram said
her remarks showed that she was not fit to attend the summit. "If she doesn't
understand the relevance of Robert Mugabe's deliberate starvation policies in
Zimbabwe to the earth summit then she should not be going," he said.
Scotsman
Mugabe
dissolves cabinet in move linked to farm seizures
Cris
Chinaka in HARARE
ZIMBABWE’S
president, Robert Mugabe, dissolved his cabinet yesterday in a surprise move
that official sources said was linked to a government drive to seize white-owned
farms for landless blacks.
Mr Mugabe, who has vowed to press ahead with
the seizures despite resistance from farmers and growing criticism abroad, will
announce a new cabinet on Monday, a statement said.
It gave no reason
for the move by Mr Mugabe, 78, who has ruled the southern African country since
leading it to independence in 1980.
Zimbabwe has been gripped by a
political and economic crisis since pro-government militants invaded white-owned
farms in early 2000 in support of Mr Mugabe’s campaign to redistribute farms to
landless blacks.
Official sources said that Mr Mugabe had summoned his
ministers and his two vice-presidents for a meeting yesterday, at which he
discussed the controversial land seizure drive.
"The stories we are
hearing are that he expressed unhappiness with the way in which some of his
ministers are handling the land issue," one source said.
Mr Mugabe’s
government has ordered 2,900 of the country’s remaining 4,500 white commercial
farmers to vacate their properties without compensation.
But nearly
two-thirds have defied an 8 August deadline to leave their farms, and police
have arrested more than 200.
Civic groups speculated that the cabinet
moved could have been prompted by court challenges filed by the opposition and
white farmers that argue Mr Mugabe’s cabinet is illegal because it was not
reappointed after a March election as required by the constitution.
"I
think there is a realisation on his part that legally he was on slippery
ground," said Lovemore Madhuku, chair of the National Constitutional Assembly, a
coalition of civic groups.
Conservatives.com
| Use Earth Summit to put pressure
on Robert Mugabe |
| |
Iain Duncan Smith has written to the
Prime Minister urging him to use the forthcoming Earth Summit in
Johannesburg to demand that African nations take "effective action"
against Zimbabwe.
In his letter to Mr Blair, Mr Duncan Smith
said the Nepad (New Economic Partnership for African Development)
programme agreed at the recent G8 summit in Canada was specifically
linked to "good governance" in Africa. He said the Prime Minister
should use the Earth Summit on sustainable development to "exert
leverage" on the African states - particularly the southern African
states - to in turn put pressure on Mugabe.
He told Mr Blair,
"You should start by making it clear that our financial
participation in Nepad must, as part of that partnership, be
reflected in the encouragement of good governance - and that this
must logically and morally include effective action against Mugabe".
Mugabe's policy of forcing white farmers off their land was
"wreaking havoc" in a country which was once the bread basket of
southern Africa and the summit would become a "farce" if it failed
to address the issue, he said.
Mr Duncan Smith also said that
Mr Blair, whose summit address on September 2 is scheduled for just
an hour before Mr Mugabe's, should boycott the Zimbabwean
president's
speech.
| |
Conservatives.com
Letter to Tony Blair from Iain Duncan
Smith on Zimbabwe
The Rt Hon Tony Blair
The
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Dear Prime
Minister
Earlier this summer you attended the G8 Economic Summit in
Canada at which the issue of NePad and African development was discussed. Most
people would have thought that any discussion on African development and good
governance on the continent would inevitably require one to address the
politically created humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
Yet, despite our
suggestions and please, the Summit ignored Zimbabwe and both the final
communiqué and your statement to the House failed even to refer to it. You also
have an opportunity to exert leverage at the forthcoming Earth Summit in
Johannesburg next week.
Robert Mugabe and his illegitimate Government are
wreaking havoc in a county that was the bread-basket of southern Africa. It is
now unable to feed its own people let alone its drought-stricken neighbours.
Zimbabweans, black and white alike, are being persecuted and are suffering. The
rule of law has all but collapsed. Human rights are being trampled
underfoot.
At the Summit you will have the opportunity to tackle this
issue. You should start by making it clear that our financial participation in
NePad must as part of that partnership be reflected in the encouragement of good
governance – and that this must logically and morally include effective action
against Mugabe.
Your platform is ready made. The provisional Summit
agenda shows that you will be addressing the Summit at 4pm on Monday 2nd
September. You will be sharing the platform with Robert Mugabe who will speak at
5pm, along with Africa’s ‘new emperor’ Colonel Gaddafi, who is on shortly after.
I believe you should boycott the Mugabe address. You could not possibly share a
platform with someone who seeks to humiliate our country and place British
citizens at great risk.
Furthermore, in your address you should condemn
Mugabe and demonstrate that the Summit will turn into a farce unless it does not
address the crisis in Zimbabwe. The issue of sustainable development cannot be
tackled whilst one of its delegates is systematically starving his own people,
driving efficient farmers off highly productive land and forcing farm workers to
live in squatter camps by the side of roads.
You should call on member
countries of the SADC to acknowledge the grave damage that is being done to the
region by Mugabe. You should take the opportunity and make it clear that our
continued governance in Zimbabwe. This must include a commitment to securing
fresh and genuinely fair elections in Zimbabwe and to restoring human
rights.
You have the support of Premiers John Howard of Australia and
Helen Clark of New Zealand along with most of the Pacific countries of the
Commonwealth. The Canadians are behind us, the Americans are now actively
working with opposition groups in Zimbabwe for regime change. You now have a
golden opportunity to fulfil your promise of last year by showing that you are
prepared to put your moral shoulder to the wheels of principle and philosophy to
which you pledged yourself last year.
Yours sincerely
Rt Hon Iain
Duncan Smith MP
Leader of the Opposition
House of
Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Some thought-provoking words...
from the Daily
Mail (Tuesday 13 Aug 2002- UK edition )
by Max Hastings
Among most British people, Robert Mugabe inspires
much more anger than Saddam Hussein. Iraq`s leader murders his enemies out of
sight. Whatever horrors he is brewing in his secret laboratories and factories,
they have not been unleashed upon the world at large. Mugabe, by contrast,
terrorises his white subjects under floodlights. Farmers are driven from land
they have tilled for decades.
Casual brutality is the nation's staple diet, and
heaven knows there is little else to eat. Zimbabwe is sinking into a slough of
corruption, starvation and bankruptcy to satisfy the megalomania of one man.
If Tony Blair announced tomorrow that Britain
intended to invade Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe from power, I suspect that the
news would be far more enthusiastically received than a declaration of war on
Saddam Hussein.
Yet, of course, neither Britain nor the United
Nations will depose Mugabe. Many miles and the colonial legacy divide us from
his crumbling country. His tyranny poses no threat to the outside world. His
victims are his own people.
For all the sentiment expended upon Zimbabwe`s
white farmers, most people in Britain recognise that their fate was sealed more
than two decades ago when black majority rule came to the former Rhodesia. Since
1980 it has merely been a question of how long the dwindling number of
Rhodesians could stick it.
After the bitterness of the civil war there never
seemed a realistic prospect that a multi-racial society would survive for long.
For 100 years, the white man lorded it in old Rhodesia. Now a black tyranny does
so.
The remaining whites will be driven out of
Mugabes`s Zimbabwe. The wise ones will leave while they still have the skin on
their backs. Just or unjust, that is reality.
I would go further and suggest that the game is
up for the white man throughout Africa. It does not matter whether this is a
good or bad thing - it represents the tide of history.
For four centuries, white immigrants and their
decendants have pitched camp in Africa. "We belong here. We are as much Africans
as any of Mugabe`s war veterans" a Zimbabwean farmer will say.
Yet, in the eyes of Africa this is not true. The
white man is always the alien, the outsider, the former ruler whose very
competence is a painful embarrassment even to the most educated black Africans.
However much those Zimbabweans, or their South African counterparts, love the
countries in which they live, few black Africans will today acknowledge that the
white man belongs among them. He is perceived as a leftover from the past,
flotsam drifting on the beach of history.
The remaining whites will not be driven out in a
single dramatic purge. Over the next 30 years, they will simply be prodded,
frightened and squeezed until they slip away piecemeal, as the children of a
good many friends of mine has already done.
In a succession of lurches and surges, Africa is
reverting to a dark continent.
Over the past 40 years, since the colonial powers
began to depart, all the world's efforts to provide advice and aid have been
frustrated by cultural resistance, lack of education, population explosion and
above all, corruption on a vast scale.
Many Western nations suffer from political
corruption. But they are rich enough, and the corruption modest enough, for
their economies and political systems to co-exist with it. Across Africa,
however, rulers have systematically stripped national treasuries of their
wealth. It was recently estimated that 95 billion Pounds has been illegally
removed from the continent by national rulers since the colonial powers
departed. No society can prosper amid corruption on this scale.
We take for granted the honesty of our judges,
accountants - yes even after Enron - banks and bureaucrats. Honesty is not only
the best policy, it is indespensable if any economic system is to prosper.
In Africa, the only wholly successful modern industry is the theft of cash from
businesses, aid funds, government coffers, utilities, mines, wildlife charities
etc.
In the days when I travelled in Africa a lot, an
old hand in Nairobi explained a few home truths to me. "In this society, if you
don`t use power to enrich yourself and your family you are not merely behaving
foolishly, you are thought to be acting wickedly" he said. "There is absolutely
no understanding here of the ideal of the community, of people at large. There
is only the family, the tribe and yourself."
There are a few exceptions such as Nelson
Mandela. But for most of the continent, that cynical piece of wisdom is as true
today as it was 20 years ago.
Almost every African state is governed solely in
the interest of its ruling clique. National bankruptcy does nothing to diminish
a bottomless appetite for first-class travel and absurdly pretentious embassies
abroad. Look at the roll call in London alone - some of the most expensive real
estate in the capital is occupied by the diplomatic missions of some of the
poorest countries of the world: Malawi in Grovener Street, Tanzania in Hartford
Street, Zambia in Palace Gate, Zimbabwe in the Strand.
By almost every economic measure Africa has gone
backwards, not forwards, since the 1960`s. Three years ago Bill Clinton toured
the continent and delivered a series of supremely cynical speeches, proclaiming
that the West would henceforward be coming to Africa`s aid. It sounded like
rubbish then and it is rubbish now. The West has no intention of bailing out
Africa, even if Blair has surges of compassion for the place.
Donors are tired of giving cash of which only a
smidgen reaches the people for whom it is intended. Food deliveries to starving
people will continue, but these do nothing to salvage collapsing
economies.----The end of the Cold War means that no great power feels a need to
buy influence there. For many years, African leaders bitterly denounced
"imperialist interference" in their countries. Today, they are learning that
international indifference is far more painful.
For most of Africa`s people the future looks even
grimmer than the past. Aids is ravaging populations. The statisticians expect
its consequences to grow much worse before they get better. The influential
American academic Phillip Bobbitt, in his recent book Shield of the Achilles,
observed that he sees only misery ahead for Africans in the 21st century, as
disease, famine and corruption relentlessly assail them.
There was a vivid moment a couple of years ago
during the first stage of the British intervention to support the struggling
government of Sierra Leone. Its prime minister asked a visiting British
politician, in the presence of journalists, if it might be possible for his
country to become part of the British Empire again. Most of those present
believed that the Leonese leader was serious. The problems of African societies
are so huge, so deep- rooted, that the few honest and decent politicians
despair. They grasp at any straw to rescue their countries. It is a tragic
spectacle and few experts see a way out.
When the West does intervene in any African
society, it is essential to stay for at least 10 years or more to have any hope
of making lasting progress. The Americans failed miserably in Somalia a decade
ago, because they treated it as a short term problem. The British Army training
team in Sierra Leone has done a good job, but the lasting need is for civil
assistance - to teach people to collect taxes, administer courts and run
infrastructure projects. We are talking, of course, about something
embarrassingly close to neo-colonialism. Many Africans would be delighted if
there was more of it about. But political obstacles remain overwhelming, the
imperial memory too fresh.
Almost every Western attempt to help Africa
founders, sooner or later, amid the morass of political prejudice and cultural
division. Zimbabwe`s remaining whites farm the land incomparably more
efficiently than their black counterparts. But this makes their presence more
intolerable, not less so, to the likes of Mugabe.
The big fib, propagated at the time of African
independence, was that local people wanted the right to vote. Not so. They
scarcely cared a fig for ballots, most of which were soon rigged anyway. They
wanted the land, cars, houses, swimming pools of their erstwhile white rulers.
They still want these things, in Zimbabwe and South Africa generally.
Sooner or later, most African leaders find it
expedient to hand over the white men`s toys to their own people, without all the
bother of explaining that these things should be won through education, skills,
enterprise, and hard labour over generations.
I was never a supporter of Ian Smith`s Rhodesia,
which was founded on a huge injustice to the blacks, and sustained by cruelties
as horrible as those of Mugabe today. White minority rule in South Africa was a
loathsome thing. Thank God it has gone. But it remains a tragedy to see
black-ruled Africa sinking into the swamp of history.
Outsiders can do little to save it from itself as
long as it remains a continent of tyrants, and democracy is making no headway at
all. There is one striking oddity about Africa`s misery today: passions remain
entirely internally directed. Whereas in the Middle East resentment of the rich
West spawns terrorism and active hostility, above all towards the USA, even
Mugabe`s denunciations of Blair lack conviction.
Africa`s rulers are overwhelmingly preoccupied
with their personal cravings for wealth. Their subjects merely struggle to
survive. Some observers believe that this may change as the power of Islam grows
across the continent. The influence of the Moslem religion may generate a new
assertiveness, even aggression, a decade or two onwards.
For now however, African passion focuses
exclusively upon their own societies, and upon futile thrashings to make some
brand of authoritarian Socialism blossom amid the failling crops.
You may have noticed that even as more and more
whites are obliged to quit Africa, growing numbers of black Africans seek to
migrate to Europe and the United States - refugees from the economic
catastrophies their own rulers have created at home. On every plane that bears
sorrowing whites away from the continent of their birth into exile in Europe or
Australia, there are also many seats occupied by departing blacks who are just
as much victims. It is a bitter historic irony.
I believe that the remaining whites will continue
to trickle away from Africa until there are only a handful of communities left
between Cairo and The Cape. Then the white outside world may notice less, and
care less, what happens to the continent because we shall perceive no kin there.
Africa`s story will have become an exclusive black disaster.
Well there you have it.
It is sad but true, history repeats
itself!
COMMERCIAL FARMERS'
UNION
Farm Invasions And Security
Report
Friday 23 August
2002
This report does not purport to
cover all the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming
areas. Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers
from reporting all that happens. Farmers names, and in some cases farm
names, are omitted to minimise the risk of
reprisals.
NATIONAL REPORT IN
BRIEF
· Reports mainly centre on the arrest,
detention and release of farmers throughout the country.
REGIONAL NEWS
MANICALAND
All names
have been removed for farmer safety
Middle Save - Two
of the court cases heard in Harare, had the Section
8 overturned.
Burma
Valley – farmer A was released from
jail on Wednesday 21 August with bail of ZW$6,000. He is not allowed to
return to his farm and his case was remanded until 14th September. Farmer
B went to report to the Police on 19.08.02 with all his correspondence. He
was arrested and kept overnight. He appeared before the Magistrate on
20.08.02 and was released on bail of ZW$5,000. He is not allowed to return
to his farm and his case will be heard on 17.09.02.
Mutare – Farmer C was released on
21.08.02 on bail of $10,000. He is allowed to return to his house,
which has not had any section notices, but where his workers were on the
property next door, in receipt of a Section 8, the workers were moved. Farmer D, arrested on 17.08.02, was
released on $5,000 bail on 20.08.02. He is not allowed back to his farm,
although his family and workers are allowed to continue on the farm. Farmer was told to report to the Courts
by Penhalonga Police on 21.08.02 for not complying with his Section 8. His
bail conditions are unclear so he is not returning to the
farm.
New
section 8's were handed out during this last week.
Odzi – farmer F appeared before the Magistrate on
17.08.02 and given bail of $10,000 and remanded until 21.08.02. When
she appeared before the Magistrate on 21.08.02, it was shown she was living in
her house that had not had a section 8 but she must discuss with the Lands
Committee about the grading of her Tobacco. Farmer G, arrested on 16.08.02, was kept
overnight and appeared before the Magistrate on 17.08.02. Farmer G had
been associated with the wrong farm so there was no case against
him.
Nyazura – Farmer
H was arrested on 21.08.02 and
appeared before the Magistrate. He had signed LA3 and LA5 forms since 29
July 2002 but was not allowed to present those in court. He was given
ZW$20,000 bail and is not allowed to return to his farm. Several of the farmers in the Nyazura
area have had to report to the Police Station and show their relevant
papers. They have then been asked to sign warned and cautioned
statements.
Rusape - Farmers are being asked to report
to the Police Station and sign warned and cautioned statements. Since
22.08.02 all has been quiet.
Headlands – six farmers were all released on bail and were told
not to return to their farms. Their cases will be heard on 03.08.02. Some farmers are now receiving new
Section 8's.
Rusape – Farmer J has
been away: he is now trying to settle things with the police. Otherwise
all has settled down.
MASHONALAND
CENTRAL
No
report received.
MASHONALAND
EAST
No report received.
MASHONALAND WEST
(NORTH)
No
report received.
MASHONALAND WEST (SOUTH)
Norton - On Idaho Farm three police
officers with guns and two other people also with guns arrived late at night
with Mavis Chidzonga. Accusations of vandalism were made against the owner
regarding an armoured cable being joined. The intimidation also led to
half the workforce sleeping in the bush. Mavis Chidzonga's employees also
kicked in the door of the grading shed. On Daisy Farm the recently widowed
owner had to move off as a result of Mr Madzima moving into her house. Mr
Madzima is apparently the personnel manager at Hunyani and the Norton
Mayor. The owner had to put her cats down. The workers were stopped
from using water and there have been threats they should move off the
property. On Sunnyside it appears Reuben Barwe from ZBC has a house.
On Mapleleafthe elderly owner was imprisoned for three nights regarding his
Section 8. He was not initially given bail due to higher orders coming
from above the officer-in-charge and magistrate. Eventually he was given
bail but is not allowed back on his only farm or in his only home. Air
Vice Marshall Perence Shiri has been on his farm on numerous occasions. On
Rock farm there are reports that since the owner moved off the labour are
assaulted and evicted from their homes. On Fort Martin Farm the former
Tobacco Grower Of The Year and owner who offered this farm to government many
months ago has to date seen the compensation committee 27 times and made 125
telephone calls regarding compensation. He has still not received any
compensation.
Selous - Twelve farmers were
arrested regarding Section 8's. The bail conditions do not allow them to
carry on working or to return to the farms. A number of them have Wheat in
the ground. For ten of these farmers it is their only farm and their only
home. On Mount Carmel Farm a vehicle with a spotlight was busy shooting
wildlife at night. Three farmers have moved everything off their
properties. On Violets Vale farm four men broke into the owners house in
the owners absence. One of them appears to be a policeman in police
uniform. Fortunately the owner’s son was alerted whilst they were in the
middle of looting and chased them off.
Chegutu - Six farmers were
arrested regarding Section 8's, with four of them spending two nights in prison
and two of them spending one night in prison. For the first night blankets
were not allowed. Included amongst those arrested was a man of 82 years
old whose crutches were taken away from him by the police. There was also
a lady of 72 years of age. Mr Chipambira was pleased to see that the owner
of Burnbank was arrested, as he wants the farm for himself. The bail
conditions do not allow these farmers to go back to their farms, or to continue
irrigating their Wheat, milk their dairy cattle etc. One dairy cow has
since been slaughtered on one property due to the owner not allowed to
return. Three of these farmers had offered land to Government.
Chakari - On
Newbiggin Farm the owner of Specks Hotel in Kadoma, Mr Chiutsi, told the owner
that he would be "forced to use force" if he could not move into the owners
house. Simbarashe Ncube, who is the chief Agritex officer for Chakari, is
the recipient of the other house on Newbiggin, and all the drip irrigation
equipment. The owner has had to move out. On Blackmorvale Farm the
owner was wrongfully arrested and put in prison for two nights. He was not
allowed to bring blankets. The chairman of the settlers, Simbarashe Moyo
has not allowed any irrigation on the citrus, which is currently at flowering
stage. 55 hectares is in serious jeopardy of being lost. Nobody in
the Chakari area is currently allowed to farm. On Tawstock Farm M.P
Ziyambi wants to turn off the water to the workers. The owner’s house
appears to have also been moved into.
Kadoma/Battlefields - On
Coryton police tried to arrest the owners relative in the second house as the
owner is away. On Eiffel Blue the owners' son was wrongfully arrested on a
mining claim and spent two nights in prison along with the owner of Lanteglos
Their cell was three metres by two metres and there were eleven of them crowded
in there. They had to take turns squatting over the overfull toilet in the
corner of the cell so that they could take turns having some space to
"sleep". In Battlefields there was one farmer arrested who spent two
nights in jail. He was not even living on his section 8 farm. The
bail conditions have all been similar at $5000.00, with farmers not allowed back
to their farms. Three other farmers have also been through the courts and
given the same conditions. On Pamene Farm the owner’s house as well as his
two sons houses were broken into, and one of the looters was found drunk on the
floor when they went there the next day. On Crogh-na-Ra Farm where the owner is
not under a Section 8 but has been stopped from farming for some time anyway,
"war vets" and others from Alabama
and surrounding farms where the owners have been illegally evicted
through Superintendent Makaza, a large mob gathered on two occasions during the
week. Mr Shumba from the Lands Committee and police told the owner they
could not guarantee his safety, and they recommended he move out of his
house. He has been given until 24.08.02 to do so. On Railway Farm 5
police, C.I.O, Support Unit, Lands Committee, army and settlers evicted the
owner, and have taken over his 300-hectare winter cereal crop. This was
his only farm shared with his father and brother.
MASVINGO
Detailed daily reports have
been received from this region. The
following is a précis:
19.08.02
Chiredzi - The issue of Section 8s
has been dealt with in a manner that can only be described as professional.
Dispol, Chiredzi called farmers into the station. All farmers called in were
told to sign cautioned and warned statements and sent away home. Dispol told the
farmers that ZRP would contact them when they had to then appear in Court. Information received indicates seven
Cane Farmers were told to report to the Police Station.
Two
farmers were called in, but when they produced their Court Papers they were left
alone. However it has been established Dispol is under immense pressure to
detain farmers. On Singisi Ranch a
"war vet" settler known as Magumire appeared in the owner’s cane land and
proceeded to slash nine tyres and chase out all the cane cutters with the threat
that if the owner continued to cut the cane belonging to Magumire he would burn
the cane completely. The rest of
the Chiredzi District especially in the ranching area has been quiet with no
threats to any arrests pertaining to Section 8. ZRP are very busy with anti
poaching exercises in the Northern Section of Chiredzi River
Conservancy.
Mwenezi – three farmers were
detained.
Police
arrived to arrest the owner of Battlefields Ranch. Due to health reasons he was not
arrested, but requested to report to the Mwenezi Police Station to be formally
charged on the afternoon of 18.08.02 so he would then appear in court the
following morning. Police vehicles used in making the arrest broke down on the
roads. One farmer who was arrested around 11.00 hrs on 17.08.02 only arrived at
Mwenezi Police Station around 22.00 hrs after it had to be towed in by a
National Parks vehicle. The owner was left in the charge office while Police
officials apparently fell asleep and only locked in the cells at 04.00 hrs on
18.08.02. The Police cells toilet was overflowing and farmers were not able to
eat in this restricted area with the deadly stench. A farmer close to the Police Station
asked to repair the toilet, but was told it would be repaired Monday or Tuesday.
He has kindly hired someone to repair the toilet immediately. The following properties have also been
visited by Police to make arrest, but owners were not available.
Malumba
Ranch Sheba Ranch, Lot 21 A Ranch (Swanscoe Ranch , Threeways Safari Ranch) and
Valley Ranch he owner of Marcon Ranch reports that A2 Settler Mr. Mutembi told
him to remove all the cattle from the farm. He is bringing in 300 head from
Nyika Growth Point. He also told
him to replace a borehole and piping. Owner is not allowed to hunt on the
property and A2 Settler has placed two guards at the entrance to the farm, one
of which is armed with a .303 rifle. It has also been established the A2 Settler
has already shot a giraffe and wounded an Eland.
Chatsworth / Gutu – the
Makanya Farm owner was arrested early on the morning of 17.08.02 and taken to
Mvuma Police Station. He was asked to sign a cautioned and warned statement and
then released. He is back on the farm. In the early afternoon four farmers were
arrested. One, in his 70’s, was arrested while
in bed suffering from an illness and a high temperature. His son tried to plea
for him to sign a cautioned and warned statement at the Chatsworth Police
Station, to appear at the Police Station on 19.08.02. The officer on duty was
aware of the illness and sympathetic to the pleas made. However he was not in a
position to make the decision. The Officer in Charge was called in and only
responded around 22.00 hrs on the following evening. He was in no mood to listen
to anybody and responded by issuing instructions the ill man be detained till
Monday morning. The other three
farmers were detained at the Gutu Police Station. On Saturday night there was
only three blankets for 10 detainees at Gutu police Station. The three farmers were
not allowed their own blankets, jacket or jersey. All 3 farmers sat up for the night. Because of the
extreme smell of urine one farmer eventually asked for a bottle of Dettol to
disinfect the area. They sat with their handkerchiefs covering their noses and
faces. On Sunday evening they were allowed blankets.
Masvingo – the 64-year-old
owner of Dromore Farm was arrested on 16.08.02 at 16.30 hrs, along with the
lessee of another farm. Both were taken to Masvingo Rural. The latter was
released after it was established there was an anomalies on the Section 8. He
was told that this would be investigated. Early morning on 17.08.02, the
83-year-old owner of Shallock Park Farm. was
arrested. He was detained at the Masvingo Central Rural Police Station. Early evening of Friday 16th
August 2002 Police also visited two other properties. Both owners had conceded
to Government. Both have already received compensation from Government. One of
the two reported to the Police Station Masvingo Rural on Saturday producing a
letter signed by the Chief Lands Officer giving the owner permission to stay in
the homestead until the end of September 2002. When the owner produced this
letter he was detained until this letter could be verified. He was held together
with the other two farmers. A magistrate was arranged for a bail hearing. All
three waited until about 15.00 hrs. It was then established that a meeting took
place to determine the fate of the three farmers. Both the District
Administrator and the Chief Lands Officer clearly stated in front of witnesses
that the three detained farmers were not supposed to be detained. The outcome of
the meeting was that the farmer with the letter was released to go home and the
other two were kept in detention until 19.08.02. the Ibeka Farm owner was
detained 17.08.02 in the morning and subsequently released after intervention of
the District Administrator proving that he had vacated the property. He however
had a labourer guarding equipment. He is now officially been evicted off the
property. On two occasions two
farmers taken into Masvingo Rural had the "war vet" named Muzenda accompanying
the Police. Despite a light not working in the cell both farmers in detention
have mattresses and blankets as well as mosquito repellent provided by family
members. They were alone in a cell but were allowed visitors. They were also
allowed food and had been given permission to make use of the Police Staff
toilets. A doctor has also checked both. One farmer suffers from High Blood
Pressure.
20.08.02
Mwenezi - Bail conditions for
four farmers were all set at $10 000.00, the farmers allowed to return “to their
place of abode”. Court Dates which
are set for 18.09.02. three farmers
were arrested on 19.08.02, one of whom refused to pay bail and was due to appear
in Court 20.08.02. His passport has also been confiscated. He is a South African
National and holds authority within South Africa. The lawyer representing the
Mwenezi farmers has arranged that the same bail conditions be set for all those
farmers that are still to come in. eight farmers were due to report in the
afternoon of 20.08.02. Reports
coming in state all farmers were well treated: they have not been hand cuffed,
but rather made to “hold hands” when going into Court. Only the Dispol Minor has been
hostile.
Beit Bridge - On the weekend
of 16.08.02, one farmer and two farm managers were arrested and detained for the
weekend until 19.08.02. the farmer
was held in custody on behalf of his brother who owns a property in Biet Bridge.
On this property his brother has six cattle remaining out of 600. Police informed him that because he was
a Director of the company he would be held until the whereabouts of his brother
was ascertained. Bail conditions
were set at $5000.00. All three
were not allowed to return to their farms.
On 19.08.02 two other farmers
went to hand themselves into the Biet Bridge Police. The Dispol Minor
would not allow them to make statements and said it could be done the following
morning. he detained both members
overnight claiming that they would “jump the border” even though both men did
not have their passports on them.
They then signed warned and cautioned statements on
20.08.02.
Chiredzi - On the weekend of
16.08.02 five farmers were charged and bail conditions set at $5000.00. All were remanded out of custody and all
were not allowed back onto their farms without Police escorts to pack up their
belongings. A Court Date was set
for 02.09.02. A new directive was
issued by the District Administrator, Chiredzi, that all farmers should stop
cutting cane on the A2 Settlers blocks.
A farmer representing the members met with three A2 Settlers and a CIO
representative who informs him they are not happy with the situation. The
Bangala Ranch owner was visited by Inspector Phiri and told to be off his
property by the end of this month.
The Mungwezi Ranch owner’s Section 8 expired 19.08.02. Owner has stopped
all farming, stopped anti poaching unit, withdrawn his cattle and has begun the
45-day period to vacate his property. This has and will in turn affect other
neighbours around him. The Sebanani Ranch (Boet Van Aarde) owner, a neighbour,
has the same situation whereby his Section 8 has also
expired.
Gutu / Chatsworth - the
Makanya Farm owner appeared in Court 20.08.02 and has been released on Mr
Erasmus was in Court this morning and the outcome was as follows:
$5000.00 bail and the stipulation he was not
allowed to return to the following properties: Kanya Farm, Blackwood Farm,
Sondagsfontein Farm, and Chamamvura Farm. He is allowed to travel through Kanya
Farm to get to his homestead on Makanya Farm. His Court Date has been set for the
2nd September 2002. He
was asked by a CIO Official why he still had over 2000 head of cattle still on
his property. Of the four farmers detained over the weekend, one had his case
withdrawn and was released. At
Court on 19.08.02, the other three had bail set at .
$5000.00,
and each was given two days to move off the property. Court Dates set were for
27.09.02. On 19.08.02, two
farmers. went to the Chatsworth Police Station
to hand themselves in. They were made to wait the whole day and told to return
on the morning of 20.08.02.
The owner of Rossal farm was visited late at night on 19.08.02 by
“unidentified people” and told that he was to tell his farm workers to vacate
their houses in the farm village as soon as possible as “they” had need of the
village.
Masvingo East and Central -
The two farmers detained over the weekend appeared in Court on 19.08.02, with
the following bail conditions: $5000.00 to be paid by each farmer. One was given two days to pack his
belongings and move off the property, and the other was given three days to pack
his belongings and move off the property.
Both were then not allowed to return to the farms until after the Court
dates set for 27.09.02. Police
assistance was given to both farmers to move off the
property.
21.08.02
Gutu / Chatsworth – the two
farmers who handed themselves in were remanded out of custody on $5000.00 bail
with no other conditions. Court dates were set for07.10.02. The Condor A Farm owner reported at
lunchtime he was visited by settlers who made demands they would like to take up
residence of his homestead immediately.
Owner notified the Police, who were very slow to react. Settlers
eventually dispersed. The matter was taken up with Propol, Masvingo who said
that should they return he should be contacted and he would deal with the
situation.
Mwenezi – of 11 farmers and
farm managers who reported to the Police Station on 20.08.02, three farm
managers were released and a farm owner, the latter due to never receiving a
Section 8 Order. The remainder were
remanded on $10 000.00 bail, with Court Dates set for 19.09.02. They are allowed to return to their
farms until they go to Court.
22.08.02
Chiredzi – five farmers
appeared before the Magistrate 21.08.02 to appeal against their bail
conditions. Bail conditions were
asked to be set aside as “fresh facts” had been placed before the Magistrate.
The Magistrate appeared willing to relent and understood facts placed before
her. In the sixteen hours wait before the decision came through it appears she
was put under immense “political pressure” and told the lawyer that he had
“adopted the wrong procedure”. The lawyer questioned her about the farmers being
allowed to return to their farms and noted that the bail conditions set did not
amount to a “legal eviction”. She then repeated three times over in front of the
Chiredzi DA that this was correct and “this was not an eviction”. The owner of Emboneni Estates P/L (Lot
12 of Hippo Valley Estates) had his lawyer able to prove that a Section 5 notice
had not been served on the bondholder and therefore the Section 8 Order that
followed was invalid. He was not charged.
Mwenezi – three farmers were
expected to report into the Police station. The owner of Nandice Ranch reported to
the Police on 21.08.02 and remanded out of custody with $10 000.00 bail and
Court Dates set for 18.09.02.
Gutu / Chatsworth – the owner
of Blyth Farm has completed his packing and moving to Harare. The owner of Wragley Farm has completed
packing and is also moving. The
owner of Condor A completed his packing late Wednesday evening. He proceeded to
the Police Station where Police officials demanded he hand over his homestead
keys, which he refused. Heated debate followed and finally the Chief of Lands,
Mr. Masanu informed the Police through phone calls that the keys were to be
handed over to the Lands Officer representative for the Gutu Area. The owner of Willand Farm has also
completed packing and moved into town.
At E.F.P.Vosloo , three heifers were slaughtered by settlers during these
last few days. At Nuwejaar Farm two
heifers in calf were stolen the night of 21.08.02.
MIDLANDS
17.08.02/18.08.02
Reports
began coming in to the Midlands office of farmers being picked up for
questioning by the Police in connection with continuation/occupation of their
farms after the maturation of their Section 8 orders.
The
following farms were affected:
Gweru - Farmer A a dairy
farmer in the Gweru East area was picked up at about 11.00 a.m. questioned and
eventually released from the Gweru Central Charge Office at about 4.30 p.m.
following intervention from the Governor’s office. Farmer B a dairy and cattle farmer, also
from Gweru East, was picked up at about 12.00 p.m. and also questioned and
released from the Gweru Central Charge Office at about 4.30 p.m. after the
Governor’s intervention. Farmer C , a crop farmer near Guinea Fowl was visited
and required to report at the Gweru Central Charge Office. He was also
questioned and released but was required to produce documentation on his
delisting application. He has not been detained but there is a problem with the
District Administrator. Farmer D, a cattle farmer from Somabhula, and his
brother were visited by the police in regard to documented evidence concerning
their land offers. The latter has been cleared but the former is still to
produce his documentation. Neither of them was detained.
Kwekwe – Farmer E was required
to attend a District Land committee meeting where it appears that he has
satisfied their expectations In respect to his small farm. Farmer F’s case looks to be in order but
will be considered for clearance by the DLC on Monday.
Mvuma – Farmer G, a cattle
rancher, was picked up by the Mvuma Police on Saturday morning and brought in to
answer questions and make a statement regarding the continued use of his section
8 properties. He was not detained but returned the same day.
20.08.02
Four of
the farmers rounded up over the weekend appeared in Court on 19.08.02 and were
released on bail of $10 000. . A hearing date
has been set for 30.09.02. A condition of bail was that they may not contact the
District Land Committee. All four were permitted to return to their farms. The
remaining farmers in the Region, who have had Section 8 Orders served on them,
are expected to be visited by the Police in due course.
MATABELELAND
No report
received.
Mugabe announced the dissolution of his cabinet on Friday and was said
to be working on the composition of a new government to be announced this
weekend, state ZBC radio said.
"The composition of the actual Cabinet is,
however, a closely guarded secret and current ministers and those aspiring to
serve in Cabinet will spend an anxious weekend," said the official daily, The
Herald.
The new line-up, to be sworn in on Monday, will come five months
after Mugabe's disputed re-election in March.
Legal experts said Mugabe, who this month has faced mounting
international criticism over the eviction of white farmers, should have
appointed a new cabinet soon after his inauguration.
At least one farmer has
mounted a court challenge questioning the legitimacy of the serving agriculture
minister who issued his eviction order.
Newspapers in Harare suggested that Mugabe would opt for hardline
members to back him and his government amid increasing international
isolation.
But some analysts suggested Mugabe might be looking at creating a
more internationally acceptable government.
The Herald recalled that Mugabe commented on the resignation of former
Industry and International Trade minister, Nkosana Moyo last year, by saying he
did not want to work with those who are "weak-kneed".
"President Mugabe is on
record as saying cowards have no place in Cabinet and that those who do not have
the spine should resign," the Herald added.
The privately owned Daily News said: "Mugabe is widely expected to
retain his faith in combative ministers and non-constituency MPs (Justice
Minister Patrick) Chinamasa and Jonathan Moyo, the minister of state for
information and publicity in the President's Office.
"It remains to be seen whether Mugabe will retain faith in (Lands
Minister Joseph) Made," whose ministry has presided over the controversial land
redistribution programme, the paper said.
It said Mugabe was also expected to
retire his two elderly vice-presidents, Joseph Msika and Simon Muzenda, both
79.
The newspaper also pointed to mounting local speculation over a
possible ouster of Finance Minister Simba Makoni, who has "tried unsuccessfully
to advise the President to chart a different economic course".
However,
political analysts contacted by AFP suggested that Mugabe's choice of new
cabinet members could reflect a desire to court local and international
favour.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Masipula Sithole said
Mugabe might even want to get the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party on board his government.
The MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai lost
to Mugabe in closely contested presidential elections in March, whose result the
MDC has rejected, and which most western observers declared as deeply
flawed.
"He (Mugabe) knows that people will suspect him to have cheated in
the election, and incorporating the MDC would be his way of making amends," said
Sithole. But he ruled out any chance of such an offer being accepted by the
MDC.
"In their perception and mine, these are the last days of a dying
horse," he said. "They (the MDC) don't want to resuscitate a dying horse."
Brian Raftopoulos, a research fellow with the Institute of Development
Studies at the University of Zimbabwe, however said that Mugabe wanted to
consolidate his position, given that a question mark still hung over his
electoral victory.
He said Mugabe faced "so much uncertainty" and Friday's dissolution of
his cabinet showed he wanted to "line up people to consolidate his position if
he stepped down."
But he also said that the 78-year old president, having "broken the
back" of his
political opponents -- the country's white farming minority --
now had to "look beyond the immediate issues."
This might include winning donor aid for his controversial land reform
programme, which desperately needs financial support if it is to succeed,
Raftopoulos said.
Officials from the MDC were not immediately available to comment on
Saturday.
From Business Day (SA), 24 August
Food trucks arrive in
Durban
The truck fleet, required to distribute
$62-million in food aid to 13 million people facing starvation in Southern
Africa, arrived in Durban today, said Iain Logan, disaster operations manager
for the World Food Programme. "The 231 trucks, which include long-haul trucks,
land cruisers, fuel tankers and mobile repair workshops, arrived on board a ship
that docked in Durban," Logan said. He said the fleet had been donated by the
Norwegian government and Norwegian Red Cross and would be deployed for food
delivery by early September. "The initial allocation, subject to change in
response to logistical needs, is Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe," Logan
said He said the trucks would remain in Durban for some days to undergo
clearance, registration, and radio equipment fitting.
News release
(On behalf of Justice for Agriculture)
Reports from Mashonaland Central indicate that at least four farmers have
been arrested during the course of Friday 23rd August 2002. One of these, a
female farmer.
Meanwhile an Umvurwi farmer, Mick Marffy of Ealing Farm was on Friday
morning evicted off his property in absentia by a resident war veteran Mrs
Kiriveria Kauredza. Marffy and his family are currently on a trip to
Chirundu.
The farm is under as section 8, but Marffy is challenging the order in the
high court due to technical irregularities.
According to Marffy, Kauredza occupied his elderly parents home having given
them 5 hours to pack their belongings and leave. The elderly couple live in
a separate house on the farm.
Said Marffy, “On Thursday Kauredza informed a domestic employee that she was
intending to move into the main house and that the family should remove
their personal belongings. Since my family and I were not present, my wife
called in a removals company to go to the farm and pack up the household
goods.”
The eviction of the Marffy’s comes a week after Marffy and other Model A2
(commercial resettlement) settlers on the farm had reached an amicable
agreement regarding the sale of farm equipment. Marffy and the settlers had
also agreed that he could move off his farm at the end of September when he
would have properly completed the winding up of his farm affairs.
Marffy continued, “The settlers had asked me if they could have first option
to buy the equipment on the farm and after we had dealt with the details of
the sale, the settlers applied for the money from the Agricultural and
Resettlement Development Authority (ARDA). We also agreed that they would
make their payments during the first week of September and they would give
me until the end of September to complete my operations. However with this
latest development, I am unsure of how to proceed or if the agreements will
be honoured.”
Marffy is currently grading a tobacco crop valued at Z$28 million and has a
Z$1,2 million sweet potato crop in the ground, all of which could be lost
following a work stoppage initiated by Kauredza.
Ends
24th August 2002
For more information contact Jenni Williams
Mobile (263) 11 213 885 or 91 300 456
Email jennipr@mweb.co.zw
|
Reuters
Alert
24 Aug 2002
Lucy Henderson
|
Mercy Corps - USA |
| Regions: Africa, Zimbabwe |
 |
|
Mercy Corps Worker in Region Says Food
Shortages Have Forced Parents to Reduce Children's Meals
One-by-one mothers gather at a small feeding
center in Bakorenhema, Zimbabwe carrying their small children in their
arms. They meet every day at the site where their sons and daughters, all
under the age of five and all medically underweight for their age, are fed
a nutritional supplement mix known as "nutrimeal" that is designed to
increase the children's vitamin and mineral intake and to help them to
gain weight.
As drought has destroyed crops in the region
and food has become scarcer over the past year, these feedings have taken
on an even greater importance.
"The mothers I spoke to at the site said that
although the food was intended to be supplemental, the children, in fact,
would only be eating one more meal that day," said Mercy Corps' Lizzie
Christy, who recently visited Bakorenhema as part of a food assessment of
Manicaland Province in northeastern Zimbabwe.
"In terms of the overall food security, I found
that most of the vulnerable groups in the rural areas are eating just one
meal per day, down from the normal three meals they ate before the
crisis."
The worst food shortages to hit the region in a
decade have left an estimated six million people - half of the country's
population - at risk of hunger and hunger-related diseases in Zimbabwe.
Across southern Africa, 13 million people are expected to require food
assistance over the next six months.
The combination of crippling drought, abject
poverty, economic collapse and high rates of HIV/AIDS has devastated
communities across southern Africa and led to widespread food shortages,
especially in rural areas.
Mercy Corps is urgently accepting private
donations to help address the growing food crisis in Zimbabwe. The agency
is performing food assessments and working with local partners to
determine assistance for vulnerable families.
Christy said that during her assessment trip
she saw evidence that the food shortage are starting to have an effect on
families in Manicaland Province.
"One man - a potato farmer responsible for 22
family members - told me that the soaring price of maize has meant that he
has had to reduce his family's meals from three times a day to twice a day
and that they are surviving exclusively on potatoes for food," she said.
Mercy Corps currently runs a school-feeding
program in Eritrea. The agency responded to the food crises in Sudan and
Ethiopia in the 1980s. In 2000, Mercy Corps sent emergency supplies and
medical equipment to assist families in Mozambique displaced by severe
flooding.
Donate online to Mercy Corps' relief efforts in
southern Africa or:
Mail:
Mercy Corps
Southern Africa Food
Crisis
Dept. W
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
Phone:
1-800-852-2100 ext. 250
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering,
poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just
communities. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than $640 million
in aid to 74 nations. The agency currently reaches more than 5 million
people in over 30 countries. More than 91 percent of the Mercy Corps'
resources are allocated to programs that help those in need.
|
News24
siyahleba:
Bush chickens out - and
Gaddafi?
Muammar Gaddafi, an aspiring settler-farmer in Zimbabwe, may spring the
summit of all surprises by turning up at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) now that Master George Bush, US president-by-default, will
not be turning up for the greatest talk-shop in modern history.
By Friday nobody knew if Gaddafi was going to descend
on Jo'burg or not, but Siyahleba is willing to bet a Harare farm that the
colonel-turned-king will seize the opportunity to snatch the limelight from
Bush, who cancelled his plans because he would have been required to speak,
which is not one of his strong points.
Our friendly neighbour, Robert Mugabe, will be
coming, if only to irritate Tony Blair, whose principal reasons for smiling all
the way to Jozi are to check on the price of land in Zimbabwe and to market his
latest designer suit and Earth Summit hairstyle.
After the rise in business in the sex industry, the
next best thing that could happen to the summit would be for Gaddafi to roll
into Johannesburg, escorted by half the Libyan army and hordes of women
bodyguards.
That could be hugely embarrassing for Colin "Uncle
Tom" Powell.
"He will suddenly take ill after being ordered home
by Master George.
Come, come, let us mount you
Excitement is reaching a climax in the sex
industry on the eve of the summit of summits, and prices are rising faster than
you could mount a summiteer and gasp "$100".
Sex summiteers are determined to get their fair share
of the earth's dwindling resources and even took out a full-page advertisement
in a newspaper to advertise their latest range of products.
The pussycat page offered beauty and brains, blondes
and blacks, old and young, women and a few men (one with a 9,5 inch
you-know-what) to the 60 000 summit idlers, all eager to get a taste of the
new democratic rainbow.
Or is it 40 000 or 80 000? - nobody can
agree on the figure.
City Press's staffers get paid tomorrow, but they're
complaining that they simply can't afford to buy sex anymore - at R1 000
and more for an hour, most will only have an hour of casual sex until next pay
day, because prices are not going to come down before then.
Siyahleba urges all sex workers to spare a thought
for us: we're human too and also want a share of the world's cake.
The Summit truth - by Thami
"It's 6 pm on Monday, August 26, and here is
the news on SAFM read by John Mazwai. Thousands of delegates to the Earth Summit
descended on Sandton today for the opening ceremony of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development.
"Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe greeted the heads of state of scores of countries as they
entered the summit centre.
"For the latest on the proceedings we now cross over
to our reporter in Sandton, Bongi Mazwai.
"Hello Bongi, are you there? Bongi
. . . We seem to have lost that line. Sorry, Bongi is back with
us. What does Thami say the atmosphere is like in Sandton, Bongi?"
"Well John, Sandton is spotless and peaceful and
buzzing with excitement.
"This is truly a proud moment for our rainbow nation,
a moment for the world's leaders to see how much we have achieved in Sandton to
make their stay a pleasure. And so it is proving to be. There's not a beggar in
sight and the sex workers have . . . "
"Are you there, Bongi. We seem to have lost that
line. But yes, everything seems to be going like clockwork in Sandton.
"Some news just in. The police report that a summit
delegate lost his wallet in a hotel room after a blonde woman was seen leaving
it.
"The police have confiscated a suspicious-looking
panty found on the man's bed and are sending it for a forensic inspection.
"Um, uh, sorry, that report is incorrect. We've just
been informed that nothing of the sort happened. Now for a commercial break."
"Looking for objectivity and accuracy in the news? You
want to hear it as it is? Then look and listen no further than the SABC, the
national broadcaster of South Africa.
"Stay tuned to SAFM, the station for the
well-informed. This advertisement was placed by the SABC Board in the interests
of objectivity, accuracy and fairness. You'd better believe it."
The Poodle and the Crocodile
Tony Leon and PW "Ngwenya" Botha have a few
things in common: both like to order people around and both refuse to apologise
for anything because they never make mistakes.
Both would like to be at the summit but are too
unimportant to get invitations.
Besides, you can't invite a dead man like PW, who
came to life this week to deny he was dead. And Tony will not be there because
he's heard that a group of former Apla guerrillas will be demonstrating in
Sandton against people whose poodles crap all over public parks.
Sorry gentlemen, we don't mean to pre-judge poodles
and crocodiles.
News24
Sunday Talk:
Times are hard - blame
Mugabe
Vusi Mona
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon says the markets are punishing
our currency because President Thabo Mbeki is not condemning the lawlessness
taking place in Zimbabwe.
Leon was quoted in a daily newspaper this week as
saying: "The markets advise that our currency is being hit and attacked by
mounting concern over Zimbabwe's eviction of white farmers and the absence of
condemnation by South African authorities."
He could be right. But is it really that simplistic?
I have a problem with markets that punish currencies
for the plight of white people and do not punish anybody for the plight of black
people. This selective punishment is just not morally sustainable.
The rand was at its strongest during a period when
the suffering of black people in South Africa was at its peak. There was a
deafening silence from the markets, notwithstanding that white South Africa
collaborated quite clearly in the misery blacks endured.
Who did the markets reward then and who did they
punish?
Mbeki's quiet diplomacy on the Zimbabwe issue - even
though it has not yielded the expected results - is much better than the silence
and collaboration that accompanied the apartheid regime's crimes, and for which
the markets did not punish anybody.
I've dabbled in economics at tertiary level and,
frankly, there are times when I find the behaviour of financial markets
inexplicable. Why punish the currency of a country like SA whose macro-economic
policy is said to be sound - just for the sins of Mugabe?
South Africa is not collaborating with Mugabe's crazy
land-grab policies; neither is it contemplating following similar policies.
Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni is right in urging
the financial markets not to judge SA by what is happening in Zimbabwe.
There are times when I feel there are much deeper
problems regarding the attitude of the financial markets to SA than we are made
to believe. These problems have to do with racial perceptions and the ignorance
of the key role-players in the financial markets.
The Mugabe scapegoat is becoming a bore.
Don't avoid the real issues
While on the topic of Zimbabwe, can anyone tell me
what went wrong with Mugabe's appeal when he came into office in 1980 for mutual
forgiveness and a commitment to national reconciliation?
An honest answer will help us understand that the
simplistic solutions we are looking for - like Mbeki standing on the mountain
top and condemning Mugabe - will not help.
The problem in Zimbabwe is economic imbalances and
the attitude of white Zimbabweans that they did not have to do anything to
correct these. The reconciliation that Mugabe preached when he came into power
lulled many white Zimbabweans into a false sense of security. Compounding the
problem is the defensive posture many adopted after independence.
I see a similar posture by some white South Africans
on several issues - affirmative action, black economic empowerment, and even
just being part of national gatherings and celebrations.
This is the truth I had expected from Trevor Ncube,
the new owner of the Mail & Guardian, when he advised South Africans to be
careful that we do not go down the same route as Zimbabwe. Instead, he warned us
about threats to media freedom, which at times I feel are exaggerated.
I don't know if Ncube warned about the complacency of
white South Africans and the continuing economic imbalances in our society. For
me, that is the grave lesson South Africans must learn from Zimbabwe.
If this country were to implode, it won't be because
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri reportedly wants editorial control of the SABC, or because
Mbeki is said to be "Zanufying" the ANC. It will be because of unemployment and
continuing economic disparities.
It is worrying to see the real issues being pushed to
the periphery. Perhaps we are uncomfortable, at the level of ideas, with issues
that could lead to tension and conflict.
Yet this avoidance of the real issues is what could
in the end lead to violent confrontation. It has happened next door.