In a bizarre twist to the forced removals of
Zimbabwe's farmers, a white woman, believed to be British, took part in the
eviction of a farm couple this week.
The woman, Anne Matonga, in her early 30s, screamed at Monica Schultz: "We
are taking back the land you stole from us!"
Matonga is married to Bright Matonga, 35, a Zimbabwean propagandist. He
worked as a sports reporter in London for the BBC but was recently recalled to
Zimbabwe at the behest of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo to work for the
state-controlled Herald newspaper, then the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
before being put in charge of the national bus company.
Vincent Schultz had been wrongfully arrested as the seizure of his farm had
been ruled invalid on a legal technicality. Nevertheless, he was still in
prison, pending a bail application, and his wife was alone on the farm on Sunday
when the Matongas arrived and began hurling abuse at her.
"She [Anne Matonga] was rude, saying we had stolen her land. I thought it
strange as she was white, and looked and sounded British," Monica Schultz said
on Thursday.
Schultz was released without charges being laid on Monday when a magistrate
ruled that he had not defied an eviction order to leave his farm by August 8, as
decreed by President Robert Mugabe's government.
Then on Tuesday, Bright Matonga returned to the farm - this time with members
of Mugabe's militia. "He told us he was pissed-off, very pissed-off, to find us
still at home," Schultz said. "He threatened to return with a battalion. The
police advised us to leave."
Police had a list of wanted farmers at a roadblock on Thursday, and Schultz
feared, after his eviction in the morning, that he would be picked up again. The
final straw for the distraught couple came when notorious militant, Joseph
Chinotimba, who together with "war veterans" invaded foreign companies in Harare
last year, arrived on the farm with Matonga and told workers they no longer
worked for Schultz.
Schultz, 57, and his wife fled the farm in terror and are sheltering at
neighbours. They both wept as they wondered what the future held for them.
Schultz said: "We will have to leave. I want peace. Out of Africa. Somewhere
where Monica and I can relax and lead a family life, without our ears being
tuned for vehicles, for shouting. It's madness, it's a nightmare.
"Living on a farm today is stressful . . . You are the head of the family,
the head of the farm, you have to show your face, but when there are 300 people
at your gate . . . Do you know how terrifying it is to walk down to your gate?
"I want somewhere I can go with my family, and have law and order."
Monica Schultz, who was born on the farm she has been forced to leave, said:
"If peace prevailed we would love to stay on the farm, to grow old and die
there. And we have a lot of workers there, some lovely people who worked for my
mother, have been there for 50 odd years. Now they have literally nothing."
Forced to stop growing crops nearly two years ago by Mugabe's supporters, the
farming couple were restricted to growing roses in greenhouses.
The 11 million roses annually exported to Amsterdam won't be picked again.
Some of the 135 permanent workers have fled the farm.
Matonga, who has a BSc (Hons) in Media Production and Technology from
London's Greenwich University, has left militia to guard his new farm.
The Matongas were not available for comment.
involved in and supporting over the coming weeks. Below you will
find
details of Vuka! The ZimFest and the ZAWT Fun Run for Women. I
know that
community-building event, and great fun and
great music. The last one that
everyone. We have reformed the team now,
and will be bringing it to you
regularly ... the last weekend of each
month.
and you will be
permanently removed from our databases.
We are unable to take responsibility
for the actions of 3rd parties, who may
forward communications
on
IOL
Mugabe at centre of
summit
storm
August 24 2002 at
08:10PM
By John Battersby
The eyes of the world
are on Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president,
as he prepares to announce
his new team on Sunday after dissolving his
Zanu-PF cabinet for the first
time in 22 years of rule on Friday.
The
confiscation of white farms and the arrests of some 199 white
farmers
resisting the seizure of their land in recent weeks has put his
controversial
land seizure programme back into the public limelight on the
eve of the
opening of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development.
Mugabe, who has attended UN
meetings in Rome and New York over the
past year despite US and European
Union (EU) sanctions restricting foreign
travel for senior Zanu-PF officials,
is expected to attend the summit with
top
officials.
If he goes ahead with his
plans, he will arrive in Johannesburg just
as his new cabinet is settling in
and amid speculation that Zimbabwean war
veterans might make an appearance at
the summit and link up with likeminded
South African land
activists.
Leaders are at pains not to allow the summit agenda to
be
diverted
Amid growing international
pressure to take a stronger line against
the Mugabe government, the South
African government last week issued a
statement highlighting its efforts to
assist South African farmers targeted
by the confiscations, and reiterated
that land reforms in Zimbabwe should
respect the rule of law and due
process.
The statement followed a
softening of the rand amid speculation that
concern sparked by the Zimbabwean
land confiscations and South Africa's weak
response could be a major factor
driving the currency down. Tito Mboweni,
the Reserve Bank governor, and
Charles Nqakula, the safety and security
minister, also weighed in with
statements insisting that Zimbabwean-style
land grabs could never happen in
South Africa because land rights were
specifically protected in the
constitution.
President Thabo Mbeki also
entered the fray by saying that he agreed
with John Howard, the Australian
prime minister, that the Zimbabwean
situation called for a vigorous response
from the Commonwealth. Both
leaders, together with Olusegun Obasanjo,
Nigeria's president, serve on a
troika that suspended Zimbabwe from the
Commonwealth for 12 months in March
after the flawed Zimbabwean
election.
Tony Blair, the British prime
minister, is understood to be frustrated
by the lack of progress in a
proposed South African and Nigerian-sponsored
dialogue between Zanu-PF and
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which
has never got off the
ground.
Blair, who is scheduled to attend
the summit for only a day on
September 2, is due to have a bilateral meeting
with Mbeki on that day at
which the Zimbabwean situation is expected to be
discussed, despite the fact
that both leaders are at pains not to allow the
summit agenda to be
diverted. Hopes in British circles for a meeting of the
Commonwealth troika
during the summit appear to be in doubt due to
uncertainty as to whether
Howard will attend.
The Summit of All
Fears
Sunday Times
(Johannesburg)
OPINION
August 25, 2002
Posted to the web August 25, 2002
Ranjeni Munusamy
Johannesburg
Radicals prompt security
crackdown
WAR veterans from Zimbabwe,
ultra-leftists, disgruntled former soldiers, right-wingers, international
anarchists, Palestinian and Israeli campaigners and hackers are all coming to
Johannesburg this week hoping to grab the international spotlight during the
World Summit on Sustainable Development.
South African intelligence services
have picked up plots to "shut down" the summit.
But the government security services
have thrown a ring of steel around Johannesburg to ensure that potentially
violent disruption and sabotage is speedily defused.
Security at all South African entry
points, particularly at Johannesburg International Airport, has been
strengthened. There are constant patrols of SA airspace, routes on which
delegates will travel are extensively monitored and policed, and 20 hotels where
heads of state will stay are to become fortresses today.
Every vehicle entering the
conference precinct will be screened by bomb technicians and police dogs, even
though police estimate that with motorcades, rented vehicles and 800 buses,
there will be about 70 000 vehicles at any point at Sandton City and Sandton
Square. Even the food will be tested by military and health experts to counter
poisoning and anthrax scares.
South African security personnel
will take responsibility for the safety of more than 100 heads of state who will
be attending the gathering.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will
not be allowed to return to the country with weapons such as AK-47s as he did
during the African Union summit in Durban in July.
Foreigners found to be in breach of
South Africa's regulations on public demonstrations will be deported immediately
while citizens will face arrest and imprisonment.
Fifteen organisations have made
formal applications to march during the summit but only five so far have been
given permission to do so - along an extensively policed route in Sandton, says
Director Sean Shabalala of the SA Police Service.
Security chiefs are urging campaign
groups to seek alternate means of airing their views. But organisations such as
the Landless People's Organisation say they will not take instructions from
intelligence and security agencies. Zimbabwean war veterans have been invited by
organisations campaigning on land redistribution to be paraded as people who
have successfully reclaimed their land.
A group campaigning against the
official civil society summit have agreed to confine their marches to Alexandra
on condition that President Thabo Mbeki and United Nations secretary-general
Kofi Annan personally receive their lists of demands.
The director-general of the National
Intelligence Agency, Vusi Mavimbela, said the security services had become aware
that people who had caused violent disruptions at other international gatherings
around the world, or had links to those organisations, would be in the country
during the summit.
"Some of these elements are active
around the world. It was never the intention of government to stop them from
coming. But we can't be blind to the reality that they may be involved in other
things," Mavimbela said.
Palestinian and Israeli lobbyists
have formed committees to advance their respective causes in the Middle East
conflict.
"The situation could easily boil
over as they will be mingling at the venues," Mavimbela said.
Disgruntled former SA soldiers, who
have been campaigning to get their jobs back, have also been identified as a
potential danger since they have military training. Various domestic labour
disputes could also cause disruptions, particularly one involving the Airports
Company of South Africa.
Mavimbela said the agency was
guarding against sabotage of the conference IT system and its water and
electricity supply.
He said that at past international
events hosted by South Africa, there had been a number of attempts to hack into
the computer system and therefore "the integrity of the system and supply lines
have to be
preserved".
Mbeki Should Speak Out
Against Mugabe
South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
August 24, 2002
Posted to the web August 25, 2002
Johannesburg
The South African Institute of Race
Relations on Saturday said it was concerned that the government had failed to
speak out against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's destruction of the rule
of law, of democracy, and of his country's economy.
"SAIRR views with the utmost concern
the South African government's continued unwillingness publicly to condemn the
behaviour of the Mugabe government."
SAIRR in a statement said the South
African government recently repeated its view that the Zimbabwe's elections in
March were acceptable result, "thereby implying that it continues to condone the
Mugabe government's use of fraud and violence in that election."
"No amount of supposed quiet
diplomacy being pursued by President Mbeki can justify his failure to
demonstrate to South Africa, to Zimbabwe, to Africa, and to the rest of the
world that he condemns the Mugabe government for the path of lawlessness and
brutality upon which it has embarked."
SAIRR called on Mbeki to speak out
unequivocally for South Africa in the name of the values upon which the
country's democracy was built.
Here is
a copy of an advert appearing in the Daily News
The Registrar
General continues to refuse to give the MDC a copy of
the voters roll and has
also REFUSED any one to even view the roll
The ELECTORAL ACT of Zimbabwe
states :-
17 Voters rolls to be kept by constituency
registrars
(1) Each constituency
registrar shall have charge and custody
of the voters roll for his
constituency
18 Voters rolls open to inspection and
printing of rolls
(1) The voters roll
for every constituency shall be open to
inspection by the public, free of
charge, at the constituency
registrar during office
hours.
(2) Any person inspecting the
voters roll for a constituency
may, without payment, make copies thereof or
extracts therefrom
during office hours.
The forgoing has been refused
by the Registrar General
Question is
WHAT is he trying
to HIDE
from Topper Whitehead
All that is needed for EVIL to
prevail is for GOOD people to
do NOTHING
|
|
Zimbabwean president
announces new cabinet |
|
Xinhuanet
2002-08-25 16:48:02 |
|
|
HARARE, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Zimbabwean
President Mugabe Saturday night announced a new cabinet, which saw one new
face being introduced and two ministers dropped.
The dropped are Simba Makoni, who was the
minister of Finance and Economic Development and Timothy Stamps, who was
minister of Health and Child Welfare. Stamps has been ill for some time.
Witness Mangwende was appointed Minister of Transport Communications.
The new cabinet also saw three former deputy
ministers being elevated to full ministers.
These are former deputy minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing Kembo Mohadi, who now heads
the Home Affairs Ministry, and the former deputy minister of Justice,
Legaland Parliamentary Affairs Paul Mangwana, who has been promoted to
Minister of State, State Enterprises and Parastatals. The third one is the
former deputy minister of Health and Child Welfare David Parirenyatwa, who
takes over from Stamps as the minister.
The only new face is former diplomat and chief
executive of theZimbabwe Tourism Authority, Ambassador Amos Midzi, who
becomes theminister of Energy and Power Development.
It appears the new cabinet puts emphasis on
infrastructure, human resources, technology and economic development.
This is shown by the creation of the ministries
of Energy and Power Development, Small and Medium Enterprises Development
and the retention of the ministries of Rural Resources and Water
Development and Youth Development, Gender and Employment
Creation.Sithembiso Nyoni heads the Ministry of Small and Medium
Enterprises Development.
President Mugabe also appointed three ministers
of state to reflect the government's new thrust of rejuvenating the
economy after the land reform program.
Former minister of state in Vice-President
Musika's Office Olivia Muchena is now the Minister of State, Science and
Technology Development. Former minister of state in
Vice-presidentMuzenda'a Office Flora Bhuka is the Minister of State for
the LandReform Program.
President Mugabe also moved four ministers from
their former ministries to head new ones.
Former minister of Home Affairs and chairman of
the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front John Nkomo
becomesMinister for Special Affairs in the President's Office. Former
minister of Higher Education and Technology Samuel Mumbengegwi becomes
minister of Industry and International Trade, replacing Herbert Murerwa,
who has bounced back to his old Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development.
Former minister of Transport and Communications
Swithun Mombeshora is now minister of Higher and Tertiary Education.
Minister of State for Information and Publicity
Jonathan Moyo, Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Minister of Education,
Sport and Culture Aeneas Chigwedere, Minister of Environment and
TourismFrancis Nheema, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stan Mudenge,
Ministerof Justice, legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa,
Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Joseph Made,Minister
of Local Government, public Works and National Housing Ignatius Chombo,
Minister of Mines and Mining Development Edward Chindori-Chininga,
Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare July Moyo, Minister
of Rural resources and Water Development Joyce Mujuru and Minister of
Youth Development, Genderand Employment Creation Elliot Manyika as well as
Minister of State for National Security Nicholas Goche remained in their
ministries.
President Mugabe also appointed six new deputy
ministers, whilesix others retained their posts in a reshuffle which saw
the totalnumber of deputy ministers increasing from nine to 12. Enditem
|
MSNBC
Zimbabwe turns away Norwegian
politicans,Red Cross
JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 25 — Four
Norwegian politicans and a Norwegian Red Cross representative were turned away
from Zimbabwe after arriving on a pre-arranged fact-finding mission on Sunday, a
member of the group said.
Dag
Seierstad, a political advisor for the Norwegian parliament, told Reuters the
group was ''outraged'' at its treatment after being forced to board a flight to
Johannesburg, which was held up for two hours for the group to board.
''As soon as they realised we were
politicians they refused us entry. They gave us the simple choice of taking the
next plane back to Johannesburg or going to jail,'' Seierstad said.
Seierstad said the group had intended
to get information about the famine threatening southern Africa and the
spreading HIV-AIDS pandemic. The trip had been arranged by the Red Cross and had
received approval from Zimbabwe's foreign ministry.
Zimbabwe has come under heavy
international fire for its seizures of white-owned farmland, which aid experts
say are exacerbating a worsening food shortage caused by draught.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
dissolved his cabinet on Friday in a move official sources said was linked to
the controversial land reform programme, retaining his most loyal ministers.
''They tried to break us up as a group,
they said they would call security and force us to get on the plane...it was
quite intimidating and unpleasant and we were quite shocked frankly,'' Seierstad
said.
The other four members of the
group -- all women -- included Labour MP Gunhild Oeyangen, Socialist LeftParty
MP Ingvild Malvik, Centre party MP Inger Enger and Norway's South Africa-based
Red Cross representative Greta Oesgtern, he said.
The group had flown in from Norway via
Johannesburg. They arrived on a British Airways flight at 1030 GMT and were
forced to board the same flight on its return journey, he said.
Seierstad said the group had not
decided what it would do next and was waiting for reaction from Norway's Foreign
Ministry.
Mugabe packs new
cabinet with loyalists
Straw lashes out at 'ruinous' president
Andrew Meldrum in Harare and Nicholas Watt
Monday August 26,
2002
The
Guardian
Robert Mugabe strengthened
his hold on the Zimbabwean government yesterday by retaining the most combative
hardliner ministers in a cabinet shuffle which offered little hope of a
moderation of the land seizures and other policies that have kept Zimbabwe in
crisis and brought international condemnation.
He sacked the only moderate in his old cabinet, the
finance minister Simba Makoni who, according to insiders, had urged him to
follow more realistic economic policies and advised against his more divisive
and antagonistic actions, including the often-violent land seizures.
The changes were announced as Britain intensified its
rhetoric against Mr Mugabe. In response to a Tory claim that the government was
turning a blind eye to the crisis in Zimbabwe, the foreign secretary, Jack
Straw, accused Mr Mugabe of leading his country to "ruin".
Abandoning his softly, softly approach, he rejected
Mr Mugabe's claim that Britain was behaving in a neo-colonial manner.
"It [Zimbabwe] is a self-made pariah, not a colonial
victim," he said.
"Robert Mugabe is leading his country to ruin. The
decline in Zimbabwe's fortunes has been swift and devastating. In the name of
land reform policies he is reducing his people to starvation.
"A fraudulent election earlier this year was
characterised by murder and intimidation. His continuing use of state-organised
violence since then underlines his determination to hold on to power at all
costs."
In yesterday's reshuffle Mr Mugabe kept his "three
musketeers": the agriculture minister Joseph Made, the information minister
Jonathan Moyo, and the justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, who are jointly
responsible for the confrontational land redistribution policy, clampdown on the
press and breakdown in the rule of law.
Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly, a coalition of civic groups, said: "Mugabe has said he
wants fighters, and in Made, Moyo and Chinamasa he has found his kind of
fighters: aggressive and unrelenting.
"This means that there is no change, both in style
and substance. It has been fairly clear over the last two years that Mugabe is
happy with their performance, never mind what anybody else thinks ... and that
now he is not in the mood to work with anybody who is not prepared to join him
in the trenches."
The new head of finance was named as Herbert Murerwa,
a former finance minister known to be loyal to Mr Mugabe. The only white cabinet
member, the health minister Timothy Stamps, was dropped - he is reported to have
suffered a stroke - and replaced by his deputy, David Parirenyatwa.
Mr Mugabe dissolved his cabinet on Friday. Official
sources said the action was linked to the government drive to seize white-owned
farms.
The government has ordered 2,900 of the remaining
4,500 white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation. It says
it will not allow them to occupy 70% of the country's best farmland while
indigenous blacks have no land.
Mr Mugabe failed to re-appoint the cabinet after his
disputed re-election in March, leading legal experts to say that it was no
longer legal, citing a clause in the constitution which says that a newly
elected president must appoint a cabinet in 30 days.
White farmers and the opposition argued in court
cases that the cabinet was illegal and that any orders it made were invalid.
The Harare Sunday Mail said yesterday that Mr Mugabe,
who is subject to EU and US sanctions fort human rights abuses, was ready to
confront Tony Blair and other western critics at the earth summit in
Johannesburg this week, which Mr Mugabe will attend.
During a brief visit to Johannesburg on September 2
Mr Blair is expected to ask the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, to take
tougher action against Mr Mugabe.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth earlier
this year, and South Africa is part of a troika, along with Nigeria and
Australia, which is working to achieve agreement between Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
There is frustration in London that South Africa,
which wields enormous influence in Zimbabwe, has not done enough to criticise Mr
Mugabe, particularly in the light of state-sponsored violence.
Independent (UK)
Mugabe is the author of his own misery –
Straw
By Andrew Grice
26 August 2002
Zimbabwe is "a self-made pariah, not a colonial
victim", Jack Straw said yesterday when Britain launched an unprecedented attack
on President Robert Mugabe.
The Foreign Secretary's criticism came as Tony
Blair prepared to urge South Africa to take a much tougher line against the
Mugabe regime when he meets Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, during the
Johannesburg summit.
Britain is frustrated that South Africa has not
been strong in its public criticism of Mr Mugabe and fears that the New
Partnership for Africa's Development, which promotes democracy in return for
aid, is being undermined by the turmoil in Zimbabwe.
Writing in The Observer, Mr Straw accused Mr
Mugabe of causing the starvation of millions of people, saying: "The suffering
inflicted on Zimbabwe's black population is especially shocking.
"A fraudulent election earlier this year was
characterised by murder and intimidation. His continuing use of state-organised
violence since then underlines his determination to hold on to power at all
costs."
Despite Mr Blair's planned appeal to South
Africa, he will seek to avoid a public confrontation with Mr Mugabe in
Johannesburg.
Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for
the Environment, said yesterday that the Earth Summit would not be a success if
it were dominated by the Zimbabwe issue. "There is nothing President Mugabe
would like better than to think that a whole world summit had been hijacked by
his behaviour and his concerns. The summit is too important for
that."
Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, called for
tougher action by the Government against Zimbabwe, saying Mr Blair should
galvanise the international community.
Daily
Telegraph
Letters
Re: Zanu PF stop aid reaching
Zimbabwe
Date: 26 August 2002
Sir - In 1995-96,
members of Rotary clubs in Shropshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands
raised funds to lay a pipeline from a borehole to a primary school in the remote
Mudzi district of Zimbabwe.
My wife and I were guests at the official
opening and, as I turned on the taps of this clean, life-enhancing water, there
was much joy from the thousand or so people present.
The head teacher of
another school nearby, who was at the opening ceremony, pleaded with us to bring
running water to his school. A scheme was prepared, money was raised by those
same Rotarians, and a grant applied for with a view to laying the pipes. In the
summer of 2000, four of us went to Zimbabwe with the intention of making a final
assessment.
We were prevented from making the three-hour journey to the
school because of the violence and thuggery of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF "war
veterans". The scheme was never completed. The needy children and their families
do not have clean, fresh water, so far as I know; furthermore, there can be no
visit to the original school, because of the fear for their lives by those
seeking to bring aid.
Those wondering why the West cannot do more to help
Zimbabwe need look no further than its head of state.
From:
Ronald
Lucas, Betton, Shropshire
Zim Standard
Makoni kicked
out
By our own Staff
PRESIDENT Mugabe last night booted
finance minister Simba Makoni from his
government in a cabinet reshuffle that
offered no prospects of pulling
Zimbabwe out of its economic
quagmire.
In a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle that remained a secret to
The Standard
up to late last night, Mugabe off loaded Makoni from his
cabinet, two months
after labelling him a saboteur.
Mugabe, who is pushing
ahead with his controversial land grab exercise,
recalled Herbert Murerwa to
the finance ministry he left some years ago.
Makoni, a reformist who had
tried to steer the country away from Zanu PF's
suicidal economic policies
that have turned the country into a basket case,
incurred the wrath of Mugabe
when he called for the devaluation of the
Zimbabwe dollar a few months
ago.
Officially opening the fifth parliament last month, Mugabe said
anyone
calling for the devaluation of the worthless dollar was a saboteur and
an
enemy of his government.
The embattled leader who is facing increasing
opposition from many
countries, however, retained faith in the three
musketeers: information
minister Jonathan Moyo, agriculture minister Joseph
Made and justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa, hand-picked for his cabinet
after the June 2000
parliamentary elections.
The three have been staunch
Zanu PF apologists.
Made, blamed for the food crisis, will be aided by Flora
Bhuka who has been
appointed minister of state for the land reform programme,
a new portfolio
that places emphasis on Mugabe's agrarian reform
programme.
Elliot Manyika, whose youth brigades have caused mayhem across the
country
also retained his post as minister of Youth Development, Gender
and
Employment Creation and will be deputised by Shuvai Mahofa.
However,
against all predictions, Mugabe demoted Zanu PF national chairman
and home
affairs minister, John Nkomo who with Mnangagwa had been tipped as
his
possible successor.
Nkomo, a key figure in Mugabe's party, was relegated to
junior minister in a
new obscure ministry entitled Special Affairs in the
president's office.
He had been regarded by analysts as one of the few
level-headed politicians
among the praise singers and sycophants that
surrounded the aging leader.
Nkomo, observers said, had become a victim of
the power game within the
ruling party.
Seen as a reasonable successor to
Mugabe, Nkomo ruffled the feathers of
other presidential hopefuls including
vice-president Msika and parliamentary
speaker, Emmerson Mnangagwa when he
successfully worked out a south-south
cooperation agreement with former Zanu
PF supremo Eddison Zvobgo. This
alliance made it easy for him to win the
support of the majority in the
ruling party.
Observers noted that Nkomo's
growing popularity within the party had alarmed
Msika and Mnangagwa who might
have worked to sideline him.
Nkomo's position has been taken by Kembo Mohadi,
former local government
deputy minister.
Muzenda, on the other hand also
consolidated his power base with the
inclusion of a number of his allies who
include Chief Fortune Charumbira, a
vocal member of the Hungwe faction who is
now the deputy minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National
Housing.
The ailing minister of Health and Child Welfare, Timothy Stamps has
also
been dropped and replaced by his former deputy, David Parirenyatwa who
has
been effectively running the ministry of late.
Those who remain in
their ministries are: Sydney Sekeremayi, Aeneas
Chigwedere, Francis Nhema,
Stan Mudenge, Ignatius Chombo, July Moyo, Joyce
Mujuru, and Nicholas Goche.
Sam Mumbengegwi is now the minister of Industry
and International Trade while
Edward Chindori Chininga is now the minister
of Mines and Mining
Development.
Amos Midzi, who lost the Harare mayoral election is now the
minister of
Energy and Power Development.
Mugabe also appointed six new
deputy ministers who include Kenneth Manyonda,
the MP for Buhera North who
was appointed to a new post of deputy minister
of Industry and International
Trade.
Reuben Marumahoko, the MP for Hurungwe East was appointed deputy
minister of
Energy and Power Development. The MP for Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe
Kenneth
Mutiwekuziva is now the deputy minister of the superfluous ministry
of Small
and Medium Enterprises Development headed by Paul Mangwana.
Mutiwekuziva's
constituency supposedly garnered the highest votes in the
presidential
elections for Mugabe.
The booting out of Makoni and the
demotion of Nkomo, two men seen as
somewhat level-headed and reformist in the
old cabinet and their replacement
with tired horses reinforces Mugabe's hard
line stance.
The long-awaited reshuffle has been described by commentators as
a non-event
which came as a big yawn to Zimbabweans who had hoped for a
progressive and
forward-looking cabinet.
Zim Standard
Mugabe challenged to
undergo HIV test
By Euphraciah Mahenga
PRESIDENT Mugabe,
whose country has been hard hit by the Aids scourge and
whose close
associates have succumbed to the disease, should undergo an HIV
test to help
destigmatise the disease, groups and individuals involved in
the fight
against the pandemic have said.
In separate interviews with The Standard
it emerged that most people
battling to stop the spread of the killer disease
felt that the time had
come for Mugabe to put himself forward for a public
HIV test in order to
convince Zimbabweans that there was nothing sinister in
such an act.
Mugabe leads a country whose infection rate ranks second only to
Botswana in
the world with 25% of the adult population believed to be
carrying the
deadly virus that causes Aids.
A staunch Catholic, Mugabe did
not allow his beliefs to stop him from having
two children out of wedlock
with his secretary, Grace, while his popular
first wife, Sally who was of
Ghanaian origin, was battling a nagging renal
ailment, a few years
ago.
Sally eventually died in 1992, giving Mugabe and Grace the freedom to
make
official their once illicit affair which was controversially blessed
by
Patrick Chakaipa, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic church.
Speaking
on the sidelines of a five-day Unifem workshop on human rights,
gender and
HIV/Aids held in Harare last week, participants said given the
magnitude of
the problem in the country, the President had to send a bold
message to all
Zimbabweans about the need to undergo an HIV test as a means
of combating the
dreaded Aids scourge.
"Our president is quite influential and we know that if
he openly visits a
New Start Centre for testing and then speaks out against
the stigma levelled
against those suffering from Aids-related diseases, there
will be a
remarkable change because the people will then see that there is no
harm in
visiting such centres.
Ordinary people are saying: 'Why should we
go for tests when the leaders are
not going themselves," said a participant
from Harare.
MDC shadow minister of health, Blessing Chebundo, said Mugabe
should lead
his ministers and parliamentarians in the long overdue queue for
an HIV test
which could prompt a behavioural change in a country in which
every week an
estimated 5 000 people are dying from the disease.
"My own
assertion is that in the past years, political leaders did not play
a
significant role in combating Aids. They did not act with their bodies,
and I
say it is now time for Mugabe, his cabinet and parliamentarians to act
with
both body and soul," said Chebundo.
"New Start Centres should use politicians
in their advertisements to send a
message out to the people like what is
happening in Uganda, where the
leadership speaks openly about the pandemic,"
he added.
The Southern Africa Aids Dissemination Service (SAFAids) noted that
the urge
for Zimbabweans to have themselves tested could be boosted if top
political
leaders themselves embraced the idea.
"Although we can't say
that the first family should go for testing, we feel
they should compliment
what everyone else is doing," said Tariro Makanga, a
media officer with
SAFAids.
A participant identified only as Chinyere said: "Our
leadership,
particularly the presidency, should be in the forefront of the
fight against
the stigma associated with an HIV test. It's surprising that
they are taking
a back seat. We would appreciate it if leaders went first. It
has happened
in South Africa and Uganda, so why can't it occur in
Zimbabwe?"
However, war veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba insisted that it
was not
right for Mugabe to go for testing.
"Aids haifoseredzwi kutestwa.
Hazviite pamutemo kuti mambo atestwe Aids.
Akabuda ari positive mozoti
kudii?" (You can't force anyone to undergo an
Aids test. It is not proper for
the King to be tested because what would we
do if he were found to be HIV
positive?) he told The Standard.
He added: "And for what reason kuenda kuNew
Start Centre? Vanoenda kutest
vanenge vachifamba famba. Iwe naEditor wako
makamboenda here? Seni
mupositori ndinoenda kunodii?" (It's only the
promiscuous who go for Aids
tests).
A few years ago, the late vice
president Joshua Nkomo set a precedent, which
was sadly not embraced by the
Zanu PF political leadership, when he declared
that his eldest son, Tutani,
had died of Aids.
Last year, Frank Guni, the then leader of the Zimbabwe
Network for People
Living with HIV/Aids, disclosed that six of Mugabe's
cabinet ministers were
infected with Aids.
Zim Standard
Shiri backs down in
farm stand off
By Itai Dzamara
LAND hungry settlers at Irene
farm in Marondera claim to have recently
thwarted efforts by Air Marshall
Perence Shiri to grab the farm from them
with the help of armed
soldiers.
Settlers at the farm, the second to be invaded in February 2000
by the
Svosve people, told The Standard that Shiri had for three days tried
to
coerce them into surrendering a farm which was the envy of many
politicians.
Said Samuel Mangwende, a settler: "Three weeks ago, Shiri
arrived at this
farm in a white Land Cruiser 4x4 with four men who were
brandishing AK 47
rifles. Although the four men were in civilian clothes, we
later established
that they were indeed members of the armed forces," said
Mangwende.
Shiri is reported to have stated that he had been sent by
government
officials to take over the farm because it had been allocated to
him under
the A2 model.
The farm had, however, been demarcated for
villagers under the A1 Model.
Mangwende said: "At that juncture, Headman
Dennias Machingura boldly
questioned Shiri and criticised his use of armed
soldiers to implement
whatever he claimed government officials had sent him
to do."
The Standard is informed that the villagers vowed to defend
themselves from
any attempts by the armed soldiers to snatch their farm and
this prompted
Shiri to back down.
"The soldiers surprised us as soon as
Shiri had left when they barred us
from entering our wheat fields. We wanted
to water the fields as well as
spray insecticides. The soldiers said that
they had been instructed by Shiri
to bar us from doing anything. This angered
everyone and we vowed to fight
tooth and nail to defend the farm from Shiri,
whom we suspected wanted to
grab the wheat which is almost mature," said
Mangwende.
Contacted for comment, Shiri denied ever having visited the farm:
"I have a
very good farm, Matepatepa in Mashonaland Central, and there is no
need for
me to grab a farm," he said.
Asked whether he had ever visited
the farm in the company of soldiers, he
replied: "If you have ever met me in
town or paid a visit to my home, you
should know that wherever I go, I am
guarded by soldiers. I am free to move
wherever I want," said Shiri.
There
are four dams at Irene farm, where its former white owner, identified
only as
Hemish, used to specialise in tobacco and wheat farming.
Efforts to establish
its size were not successful.
Zim Standard
Teachers' strike
looms
ZIMBABWEAN teachers have resolved to go on strike when
schools reopen on 8
September, thus increasing the likelihood that government
will face a
crippling strike from the entire civil service sector, The
Standard has
established. According to information reaching The Standard, the
awarding of
a salary hike to junior doctors and the latest industrial action
in the
health sector had given impetus to a showdown between the government
and the
traditionally underpaid civil service sector.
Sources in the
sector said the response by government to the doctors' plight
had given the
impression that the only way to force government to act on
grievances was to
strike.
Health professionals other than doctors and nurses went on strike
last week
to push for a rational salary structure after government had
awarded junior
and middle level doctors a 53% salary hike among other
benefits after they
had participated in a protracted strike.
Leading the
agenda for indefinite industrial action to push for better
working conditions
in the civil service sector is the Zimbabwe Teachers
Union, which has in the
past made little headway with government in its
calls for better working
conditions and renumeration for its members.
Zimbabwe Teachers Union (Zimta)
secretary-general, Peter Mabhande, confirmed
on Friday that teachers were
advocating for industrial action.
Said Mahbande: "I can confirm that teachers
are planning to go on strike
when the third term resumes. It's coming and
cannot be stopped unless
something is done to improve their situation.
Teachers believe they are
getting a raw deal. There is also a realisation
that government reacts more
promptly to strikes than to negotiations. They
are sending the wrong signals
and teachers have decided to take the bull by
the horns. said Mabhande.
Mabhande said although his association was aware
that the strike might
affect students preparing for their Ordinary and
Advanced Level examination,
government's attitude had left the 55 000-strong
Zimta with no other option.
Apart from rationalising salaries in the health
sector, government recently
awarded uniformed forces a 155% increment,
leaving teachers stranded.
Although he failed to be definitive about any
industrial action by civil
servants, the executive secretary of the Public
Service Association, Charles
Chiviru, confirmed that there was unrest in the
sector.
"Government's approach to problems in the civil sector is a
contributory
factor. When they review salaries, they do it piecemeal. They
don't do it
across the board and the message they are sending out is that
they only
react to industrial action," he said.
There are so many
professionals other than doctors who are also underpaid
and common sense
dictates that the review should be across the board. They
have to change
their approach if they want to avoid imminent trouble with
civil servants,"
he said.
Zim Standard
americannotes
By Ken
Mufuka
White farmers-the sacrificial lambs
WHEN
countries are ruled by gods, human lives are often sacrificed without
so much
as a whimper. But is it not the duty of any good government to
alleviate
suffering-even among those one may disagree with?
I recently spent two weeks
travelling the Zimbabwean countryside, putting
questions to weary residents
in the former white-held farmlands. In the
first of two articles, I report
the suffering, from the white farmer's point
of view. The names or nicknames
are real as is the suffering and pathos.
Esigodini (formerly Essexvale) lies
on the Bulawayo escarpment where
artesian wells can be drilled into the
geographical fault with relative
ease. Four white families made use of this
advantage by turning their
properties into some kind of green haven for
gardeners and tourists. Within
one year, they were expelled. A South African
named Jervey bought the
Country Inn. It was popular with American tourists
because it was designed
as an African village, with round grass- thatched
huts complete with piped
hot water and television sets.
War veterans
invaded the neighbouring farm of Komani (nickname meaning
hurry-up). Jervey
thought their drunken behaviour bad for his paying
customers and was
subsequently given his marching orders. With those orders,
his $5 million
investment went up in smoke. Ten black families lost their
jobs and a sign
which reads: 'Ngozi-Danger' now braces the gate. Behind the
sign is an
overgrown compound that once was the pride of Esigodini beer
drinkers and
travellers.
Komani himself was locked out of his farm and house. He was a
specialist in
horticulture and had a herd of Brahmin bulls and heifers.
Arguing that his
specialist knowledge was beneficial to Zimbabwe and fearing
that his animals
would soon die of maltreatment, he appealed to the governor
for a stay
without success.
Six months later, Komani's farm looks
overgrown and careworn. It is
suspected that some of his prize bulls went
into the stomachs of the war
veterans. His vast investment is practically no
more and only a few of the
50 black families who worked there are hanging
around waiting for land
allocations from the veterans.
Tatamanzi (fetch
water) had developed the best-known orange grove and tomato
garden at
Esigodini. Tomato and cabbage harvests were so plentiful that
African women
gleaners who followed the official harvesters often filled
their own baskets
with vegetables and sold them at the public beer-hall.
The war veterans
placed Tatamanzi under martial law-suspended all human
rights, harvested the
oranges themselves and have now taken over his tomato
acreage. For fun, they
have cut down some orange trees for firewood and
allocated themselves 100
trees each. They, however, accuse Tatamanzi of
throwing some cement into one
of his wells. The orange trees are dry and
scruffy, the plush grass between
the trees, which served as fodder for
cattle has been reduced to virtually
nothing. Tatamanzi and his family have
been banished from the land they
called home.
The veterans on the other hand, are jubilating. Esigodini Hotel
is rotting
from lack of visitors. Four front street shops have been closed.
The huge
missionary-run centre for African women's clubs has also closed.
Esigodini
looks like a dead frontier town.
The biggest story of all is
that of Rotarian Guy Cartwright of Marondera.
The Cartwrights came with Cecil
Rhodes. Their land was a vast agro-company,
producing varieties of crops,
dairy and beef animals, trees and flowers-the
Cartwright's had it
all.
Significantly, the Cartwrights had a conscience. With Don Williams,
chairman
of the Constitutional Association, they worked to provide bursaries
for
black kids wanting to attend private colleges. As early as 1961,
the
Cartwright farm was a haven of liberal gatherings. Students from
Waddilove
were often invited into their home for tea and scones. A white man
who
allowed blacks to share the same cups and dishes with him was at that
time
considered a communist. The political tide was turning slowly towards
the
Dominion Party. Guy Cartwright served as governor of the Rotary Club,
built
a school for blacks on his farm and is highly spoken of and revered by
black
workers.
The morality of land redistribution is unquestionable. The
point here is
that not all white people are wicked oppressors, drinking the
blood of
innocent blacks before they go to bed. Any superficial inquiry would
have
established that the Cartwrights are virtuous citizens-unless one
says
virtue in a white man counts for nothing.
The US secretary of state,
General Colin Powell, has entertained their case.
The Rotary International
and other human rights organisations are using this
case as a cause celebre.
The London Daily Telegraph says in its editorial of
9 August that these
events mark the end of Cecil Rhodes' dream.
Because of Zimbabwe's moderate
climate, Rhodes hoped it would accommodate
the millions of unemployed
Londoners. To make way for them, he hoped to
chase the Matabele into
Barotseland while the Shona would serve the British
settlers as
labourers.
Rhodes was a God. He ignored black suffering to achieve a dream.
Ian Smith
was also a god. He too ignored human suffering in his quest for
white
supremacy. Mukuru considers himself to be a god. He too has ignored
white
and black suffering in his quest for black Zanu PF
supremacy.
Zimbabwe has a double curse, its propensity to elect gods as
rulers and the
gods' desire to establish racial supremacy forever. At the
alter of racial
supremacy, human suffering is of no consequence
whatsoever.
*Next week: Land Reform-The Black
Perspective.
Zim Standard
Last chance to
wipe the slate clean
Perhaps by the time this paper hits the
streets, President Mugabe might have
already announced his long-awaited new
cabinet. As a responsible newspaper
what we can do at the moment is to make a
last minute appeal to the
President, in case he decides to announce the new
cabinet at the eleventh
hour, before it is sworn in tomorrow.
In any
reshuffle, there is no point in changing a winning team, but in the
case of
Zimbabwe, the team has not been winning. If anything, the cabinet
has been in
a self-destruct mode. And the failure of the old always makes
people search
for the new.
This is the time for the president to ponder whether he wants to
continue
with the hardliners, the diehards who have contributed much to
the
destruction of Zimbabwe, or whether he wants to usher in a new era
of
reconciliation with reformist ministers in the interest of the
country.
Very few Zimbabweans will bemoan the passing of the old guard that
saw
Zimbabweans achieve its independence from Britain. Roses, however
sweet,
need to be pruned. Knowing when to get out of the way is the most
difficult
thing for any leader to recognise. But when an opportunity presents
itself
it must be grabbed with open arms.
Since 1980, there has been a
recycling of the old political elites and it
will be interesting to see if
the President and the two Vice-Presidents who,
in any event, have been in the
"departure lounge", will actually depart.
Then there are these visitors in
Zanu PF, the mafikizolos. The
Johny-come-latelies have been playing the role
of hardliners and have been
on a rampage, wreaking havoc in the country.
These include the Johnos, the
Chinamasas and the Mades of this world. These
guys have been an
embarrassment to the information, justice and agriculture
portfolios in
Zimbabwe respectively. They have been purveyors of
evil-period!
Clearly, such comedians (for that's what they are) must be put
out to grass
for the good of the country. The need for ruthlessness at times
cannot be
over emphasised. It is hard to think of a God-sent opportunity in
which the
disposal of brain-dead ministers can take place than a cabinet
reshuffle.
In a reshuffle, the President's driving passion must be to change
things for
the better. It must not be seen as more of the same or mere window
dressing.
The national interest should always be at the centre of government
thinking
and action. For years, politicians in Zimbabwe have been preoccupied
with
managerial politics, meaning that one climbs the ladder, occupies
high
office and becomes arrogant-with no accountability whatsoever to the
people
who put them there in the first place.
Take the land issue for
example. How many times have people said that land
is a finite resource that
must be redistributed in a transparent and
accountable manner for the
sustainable development of the country, taking
into consideration that the
same land will be needed by future generations.
But has the government
listened? No.
Talking of land reform, an issue that has dominated local
politics for the
past three years, the tragedy of Zimbabwe at he moment is
that we have a
political leadership which is deaf to the pleas of its own
people. It is as
if the country is their own private property. The ruling
party is ignoring
the fact that every Zimbabwean regardless of colour is a
shareholder in this
country and as such has a stake in its future and right
to expect respect,
and not contempt, from its elected government.
For some
time now, men and women of goodwill have been warning Zanu PF
against the
folly and consequences of a chaotic land reform and the violence
and hatred
unleashed by the ruling party on fellow Zimbabweans. But they
have been
bashing their heads against a brick wall.
In the light of all this, we
believe that whatever the composition of the
new cabinet, the time has come
for Sadc, the African Union and the
Commonwealth to do much more to
pressurise the government of Zimbabwe to
restore the rule of law and put a
stop to the confusion and anarchy on the
commercial farms and the country as
a whole.
South Africa holds the key. As it was with Rhodesia, so it is with
Zimbabwe.
South Africa can never be secure politically and economically as
long as the
Zimbabwean tragedy continues to unfold. South Africa, in
particular, and the
Commonwealth, in general, must seize the bull by the
horns and say to the
Zimbabwean government: Enough is enough. That there is a
high price to pay
for plunging the region into instability and economic mess.
That the region
cannot develop and realise its full potential in a situation
of civil strife
and instability.
Every time the ruling party leaders open
their mouths, you know that what
they are going to say bears no relation to
what is happening on the ground.
The confusion surrounding the
one-farmer-one-farm policy and the recent
different magistrates' rulings on
farm evictions testify to this fact. We
are therefore entitled to ask the
government: What is the policy and
practice regarding these on-going
evictions?
Is your policy anything but the truth?
Despite all the
violence, the stubbornness on the part of Zanu PF and the
economic hardships,
Zimbabweans have proved to themselves they they are a
resilient, decent and
peace-loving people. In truth, we are at a
disadvantage and require
assistance from without the country.
Not, of course, to topple President
Mugabe as is being sensationalised by
the state-controlled media, but to
pressurise the Zimbabwean authorities to
move in the direction of universal
democracy, respect for human rights and
the rule of law.
In fact, not
enough is being done to show the world how the Johnos of this
world have been
using the government-controlled media to distort the
situation in Zimbabwe.
We have state-controlled media in Zimbabwe who lie,
deceive and spin with
impunity. They are above the government's own laws and
cannot and will not be
prosecuted and enjoy the freedom to sow their devious
propaganda at
will.
As long as the world continues to see the Zimbabwe crisis in racial
terms,
we have little hope of making progress. Political leaders of African
states
in the Commonwealth must develop the backbone to admit that what
is
important at this stage is the restoration of the rule of law,
political
stability and an end to persecution of Zimbabweans and not issues
of race or
colonialism.
True, we would not be facing many of our present
pathologies in the land
question if it were not for the legacy of
colonialism. But we must realise
that today much of the responsibility lies
at our feet.
In alerting the government to the folly of its ways and urging
it to correct
them, we believe we are practising the highest form of
patriotism. Zimbabwe
cannot withstand the tide of world opinion against
it.
Zim Standard
Hello, hello,
peep, peep, peep overthetop
By Brian Latham
IT has been
established that it takes an average of 45 attempts, and even
more minutes,
to make a telephone call on a cell phone in a certain troubled
central
African country. It is understood that, with the rules of economics
turned on
their head, the main competing service providers are neck and neck
in a race
to see who can provide the worst service.
Still, angry consumers say that
it would be bearable if the service
providers could provide a little more
variety. Instead of an immediate
"beep, beep, beep" whenever the dial button
is pressed, why not a little
tune to ease the stress? And instead of that
boring "network busy" text
message on the cell phone, why not something more
imaginative? Perhaps:
"Keep trying, you'll get through eventually."
Then
there are the times when you are diverted to someone's voice mail,
even
though you know their phone is on, working and available. Perhaps a
little
sign saying, "Got you, fool, and did you know you're actually paying
for
this?"
And why, when driving past the most equal of all comrades'
palace, do the
things insist on making painfully loud whirring noises before
inexplicably
cutting off?
Citizens of the troubled central African country
complain that the whole
thing is more than a little irritating, especially as
it is often quicker to
drive across town to deliver a message than it is to
phone. And cheaper too,
because each of those 15- second calls that suddenly
die in a series of
nauseating beeps is charged as a normal call.
Sometimes
it can take a day and several hundred phone calls just to say,
"Hi, how about
dinner on Friday night?" Hit redial and arrange a venue. Hit
redial and
arrange a time. Hit redial and ask whom else to inviteS And in
between each
of those redials, there are scores and scores of "network busy"
messages and
hundreds of stupid beep, beep, beeps.
It has even been suggested that fashion
conscious residents of the troubled
central African nation are going back to
those old mobile phones that looked
and felt like bricks, saying that at
least you can use them to brain muggers
on the head because frankly, who the
hell uses a cell phone to make a call
these days? Maybe the old ones did look
like bricks, but the new ones, given
the state of the networks, make you
sound like you've swallowed a brick.
Worse still, everything you say is
repeated back at you, making even a
simple chat sound like an unruly
conference call conducted by excitable
Chinese gentlemen busy organising
World War Three.
It has been decided that the solution lies in appropriate
technology and
Over The Top has learnt that at least one service provider is
working on a
cell phone with a chigayo handle attached to the side, much like
old party
line phones once had. That way all you do is crank away at the
handle until
some somnambulant operator asks what number you want and
connects you,
making all those beeping noises the operator's problem, rather
than yours.
It seems a good and stress relieving situation, though it would
probably be
a good idea to do the gaya-gaya movements out in the open.
Attempting to get
a connection with your hand and your cellular in your
pocket could give the
wrong idea entirely and may even lead to your
arrest.
On the other hand, users of these now largely worthless contraptions
in the
troubled central African country have suggested that simply not paying
one's
bill for a couple of months might provide the necessary wake up call to
the
service providers.
The Australian
Hundreds 'raped'
in Zimbabwe
August 26, 2002
HUNDREDS of women and girls were
being raped in rural Zimbabwe by President
Robert Mugabe's youth brigades, a
British newspaper said today.
Girls as young as 12 were being raped,
tortured and forcibly kept as
concubines in camps in what human rights
lawyers had branded "systematic
political cleansing" of the population, The
Sunday Telegraph reported.
A former militia member interviewed by the
newspaper claimed he and others
received orders to attack the wives and
daughters of opposition
sympathisers, the report said.
Human rights
activists say the use of rape is part of a drive to terrify all
opposition
into submission.
"They are raping on a mass scale," Frances Lovemore, member
of the
Harare-based Amani Trust which monitors torture, told the
paper.
Lovemore claimed girls were being systematically taken and used
and abused
by because of their families' political views.
"We're
seeing an enormous prevalence of rape and enough cases to say it's
being used
by the state as a political tool," said Tony Reeler, a director
of the Amani
Trust.
The Sunday Telegraph said the Amani Trust was compiling video
evidence of
rape camps set up for youth brigades and riot police in rural
areas and
hoped to bring Mugabe to trial at the international court of human
rights.
Victims living in hiding told the newspaper how they had been
gang-raped by
police and war veterans and had their genitals burnt with iron
rods.
They said the abuse was punishment for their parents not supporting
Mugabe
in the March presidential poll which returned him to power amid
widespread
allegations of fraud and voter intimidation.
In a country where
about 40 per cent of the population was HIV positive,
rape could amount to a
death sentence, the report said.
The report told of one 12-year-old girl,
in the Vumba mountains in eastern
Zimbabwe, who was gang-raped by war
veterans and policemen while her mother
and younger sisters were forced to
chant Mugabe's praises and watch the
ordeal.
She was raped because her
father supported the country's main opposition
group, the Movement for
Democratic Change.
Other victims were severely beaten, and some claimed
brigade members
urinated on their food supplies - a terrible indignity in a
land where
millions were close to starvation, the report said.
"We
found a population living in terror, some towns completely "cleansed" of
all
opposition," a Sunday Telegraph reporter said.
Zimbabwean officials were
speaking in chilling terms about the need to take
the country back to zero,
the report said.
Last week, Didymus Mutasa, the organisation secretary of
Mugabe's ruling
Zanu-PF Party said: "We would be better off with only six
million people
(out of a total 12 million), with our own people who support
the liberation
struggle."
The report emerged as world attention
focuses on Mugabe's efforts to evict
white farmers while famine threatens the
country.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today attacked Mugabe's
Zimbabwe as a
"pariah state" amid reports that Britain is to step up pressure
on the
president's regime at the UN Earth Summit in Johannesburg that
starts
tomorrow.
According to UN figures, six million people, making
up half the country's
population, are facing starvation.
Police and
Zanu-PF supporters have arrested about 200 white farmers for
ignoring
eviction notices to quit their land, served on about 2900
white
farmers.
The Scotsman
Mugabe plays musical
chairs with cabinet
Jane Fields In Harare
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is expected to address the Earth
summit today,
yesterday announced a tough cabinet which offers little little
hope to white
farmers desperate for some respite from the current land grab.
Defying
international disapproval, President Mugabe kept almost all of his
hardline
supporters, including Joseph Made, the lands minister.
Mr Made has
presided over the controversial and violent programme to take
land from white
landowners to give to new black farmers, which could see
more than 3,000
white farmers losing their homes.
The only cabinet minister who had
managed to retain a degree of
international respect - Simba Makoni, the
finance minister - was dropped. He
had roused the president's ire by calling
for the devaluation of Zimbabwe's
frail currency, and was replaced by the
former trade minister, a staunch
Mugabe supporter.
The lone white
member of cabinet, Timothy Stamps, the health minister, was
also dropped. His
health has been poor since he reportedly suffered a stroke
last
year.
Mr Mugabe, who has faced a barrage of international criticism this
month
over the attempted eviction of hundreds of white farmers,
unexpectedly
announced on Friday that he had dissolved his cabinet. Hopes had
been high
that the 78-year-old war veteran might tone down a new government
in a bid
to court favour - and desperately-needed food aid - from
abroad.
But those hopes were quashed with news of the reshuffle. It was a
"non-event
which came as a big yawn to Zimbabweans who had hoped for a
progressive and
forward-looking cabinet", the independent Standard newspaper
commented
yesterday.
Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshoro, a political
analyst, told The Scotsman that
"what we have here is just a game of musical
chairs". He said the members of
the cabinet were "people who have buried
their heads in the sand, who
believe that Zimbabwe has no connection to the
rest of the world, people
with no understanding of modern government. There
is absolutely nothing new
here."
White farmers hoping for a softened
approach to land seizures are meant to
understand that Mr Mugabe is
determined to push his land reform programme to
its bitter
end.
Meanwhile, the siege on white farmers continues. The police have
now
arrested more than 277 farmers this month for refusing to leave their
farms,
in a clampdown that has been described as tantamount to "ethnic
cleansing".
Most of the farmers say that they want payment for their houses
before they
leave, while others have argued that their eviction orders are
invalid.
Australia announced yesterday that it is close to following the
European
Union and the United States' lead in imposing sanctions on the
southern
African nation.
The beleaguered Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU) reported this weekend that
farmers countrywide were being visited, and
in some cases threatened, by
police and the new "owners" of their homes. And
in a sign of growing fears
over safety, the mainly white body has stopped
publishing the names of
individual farmers who report cases of violence and
intimidation.
At least 11 white farmers have been killed over the past 29
months, as state
media and the government stir up resentment against those it
calls "greedy"
whites.
Despite the food crisis which threatens half of
Zimbabwe's population, there
is no sign that the government might be
considering letting experienced
white farmers stay on to produce food
crops.