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- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Zim Online

Tsvangirai cleared of second treason charge
Tue 2 August 2005

      HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai was on Tuesday cleared of the second treason
charge he was facing after he organised countrywide mass protests two years
ago.

      Preosecutor Florence Ziyambi told the Harare magistrate's court that
the state was withdrawing charges Tsvangirai for organising the protests
dubbed the "Final Push." The state did not give reasons for the withdrawal.

      "The state is withdrawing the charges before plea. The charges are
withdrawn," Ziyanbi told the court. The state charged that Tsvangirai sought
to violently oust President Robert Mugabe from power in 2003 through the
street protests, an offence the government said was treasonous.

      The MDC leader was last year cleared of similar treason charges by the
courts after he was accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Withdrawal of treason charge ploy to divert attention from crisis, says
Tsvangirai
Tue 2 August 2005

      HARARE - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday
said the government's withdrawal of treason charges against him was a ploy
to divert attention away from worsening economic problems threatening the
country with total collapse.

      Tsvangirai said President Robert Mugabe and his government had "seen
the light" in scrapping a second treason charge against him for organising
mass anti-government protests in 2003.

      But the opposition leader, who was last year acquitted by the High
Court of treason after the state accused him of attempting to assassinate
Mugabe, this afternoon told journalists in Harare that the government had
dropped the treason charge only as "an attempt to divert attention from
issues affecting the nation."

      Under Zimbabwean law, treason carries the death penalty or at the very
least lengthy imprisonment.

      Tsvangirai, whose opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party poses the greatest threat to Mugabe and his ZANU PF party's 25-year
rule in Zimbabwe, refused to comment on whether regional leaders
particularly South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki might have helped
influence Harare to drop charges against him.

      But some analysts observed that the state had a weak case that it was
unlikely to win conviction against Tsvangirai and may have opted to rather
gain political mileage by scrapping the charge and portray itself as moving
to ease political tension in Zimbabwe.

      University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Lovemore Madhuku said: "This might
be an attempt by Mugabe to win the sympathy of the region and the world by
acting as if he is doing something (to ease Zimbabwe's political and
economic crisis)."

      "But in reality he is doing nothing. There is need to address issues
such the constitution and the melting economy and the humanitarian crises
inflicted by Operation Murambatsvina that has left more than half a million
people homeless," added Madhuku, who is chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly that campaigns for a new and democratic constitution
for Zimbabwe.

      Mbeki is reported to have indicated to Mugabe two weeks ago that he
will have to implement wide-ranging economic and political reforms including
resuming negotiations with Tsvangirai and his MDC for a political settlement
to Zimbabwe's crisis before Pretoria could financially assist Harare.

      Mugabe has asked Mbeki for US$1 billion loan to buy food and fuel
critically needed in Zimbabwe. The South African leader, long criticised for
refusing to publicly censure Mugabe, has indicated willingness to bail out
Harare but subject to some conditions.

      The treason charge withdrawn against Tsvangirai earlier today arose
after he called countrywide demonstrations by supporters of his MDC party
which the government said were an attempt to unconstitutionally remove it
from power.

      In the first treason case against the former trade
unionist-turned-politician, the state accused Tsvangirai of hiring a shadowy
Canadian-based political consultancy firm to help organise the murder of
Mugabe before a presidential election in March 2002.

      But High Court Judge President Paddington Garwe, in a surprise
judgment last October, dismissed the state's case for lack of convincing
evidence.

      Tsvangirai accuses the government of selectively applying the law to
persecute him and supporters of his MDC party. The government denies the
charge. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

SA to prosecute pilots who flew suspected mercenaries to Harare
Wed 3 August 2005

      JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's prosecuting agency on Tuesday said it
will next month charge two pilots who flew a group of 70 suspected
mercenaries to Harare last year.

      The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it would charge Neil
Steyl and Hendrik Hamman under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance
Act which prohibits South Africans from aiding or taking part in mercenary
activities.

      Steyl and Hamman flew back to South Africa last week after serving
more than a year in Zimbabwe's notorious Chikurubi prison.

      NPA official Lucinda Moonieya told the Press: "We decided to give them
a month or so to settle in with their families before taking them to court.
It will be sometime in September."

      Another eight suspected mercenaries also released much earlier from
Chikurubi, are scheduled to go on trial on January 16 next year for
allegedly breaching the wide-sweeping anti-mercenary law.

      Moonieya said state prosecutors could join the eight's case together
with that of Steyl and Hamman depending on what the two plead at their first
appearance at the Pretoria Regional Court in September.

      The suspected mercenaries, all holding South African passports, were
arrested in March last year when they landed at Harare International airport
to refuel and pick guns and other military equipment which they claimed they
wanted to use to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

      Zimbabwean authorities claimed the men were on their way to join 15
other suspected mercenaries, including eight South Africans, arrested in
Equatorial Guinea around the same time. Harare jailed the men for violating
Zimbabwe's immigration, aviation, firearms and security laws.

      Sixty-one of the men were returned to South Africa in May after
spending more than a year at Chikurubi. The leader of the men, Briton Simon
Mann is still incarcerated at Chikurubi after being given a four-year jail
term.

      British businessmen Mark Thatcher, accused of helping bankroll the
flopped coup escaped jail in South Africa after a plea bargain deal with
authorities. Thatcher is the son of former British premier Margaret
Thatcher. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Embattled NGOs to meet government next month
Wed 3 August 2005

      HARARE - Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will next
month meet top government officials for talks to save the civic society,
facing decimation because of a hostile operating environment.

      National Association of NGOs executive director Jonah Mudehwe said
some NGO groups were already leaving Zimbabwe because of an "unfavourable
political environment" and also because of the country's fixed exchange rate
that had made it difficult for foreign funded groups to operate in the
country.

      A tough NGO Bill that was referred back to Parliament by President
Robert Mugabe remains a major threat to many civic groups especially those
working on human rights and governance-related issues that may be forced to
close if the Bill becomes effective law.

      Mudehwe said a seminar was scheduled for next month to lobby
influential government officials to appreciate the problems the civic groups
were facing.

      He said: "One of our initiatives would be a workshop next month that
will involve senior government officials so that there is an appreciation of
how the NGO community works."

      "It is true that most NGOs are facing viability problems because of
the regulated exchange rate which has seen the cost of doing business in
Zimbabwe being prohibitive and unattractive. We are consulting the
government to ensure that this is addressed together with the unfavourable
political environment," added Mudehwe.

      Under the draft NGO Bil, civic groups will be banned from carrying out
voter education while those working on human rights-related areas will be
barred from receiving foreign funding.

      The Bill was passed by Parliament last year but Mugabe refused to sign
it into law and sent it back to the legislature. He did not make public his
reasons for refusing to sign the Bill.

      NGOs have played a key role in helping feed Zimbabweans over the last
five years when the country faced severe food shortages.

      The civic groups will also be required to help feed an estimated four
million Zimbabweans out of the country's 12 million people who will require
food aid before the next harvest next year.

      Mugabe and his government have however accused NGOs of wanting to use
aid to incite Zimbabweans to revolt against their rule. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Zimbabwe begins selling fuel in hard currency
Wed 3 August 2005

      HARARE - Zimbabwe on Tuesday began selling fuel to motorists in
foreign currency as it desperately tries to raise hard cash to import oil
and end an acute fuel shortage threatening to bring the crisis-hit country
to a complete halt.

      A spokeswoman for the government's oil utility, National Oil Company
of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), said a garage in Harare's Arcadia suburb, Comoil
Service Station, had been authorised to charge United States dollars for
fuel, adding more garages across the country would be permitted to do the
same in due course.

      "The price is US$1 per litre and fuel is readily available," the
NOCZIM spokeswoman, Zvikomborero Sibanda, told ZimOnline. "Motorists
intending to access this fuel can buy coupons from the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) foreign currency collection centre which has been established
at the service station."

      Other currencies Zimbabwean drivers can use to purchase fuel include
the South African rand, Botswana pula, Japanese yen, British pound, and
Swiss franc, according to Sibanda.

      RBZ governor Gideon Gono announced during his mid-term monetary policy
review statement last month that the government would allow garages to
charge hard cash for diesel and petrol, both in critical short supply in the
country.

      But Gono had said the last ditch measure to help the RBZ raise hard
cash from the public to pay for oil imports would only begin next month.

      Gono could not be reached on Tuesday to establish why the central bank
had now brought forward the plan to make motorists pay for fuel in foreign
currency.

      Zimbabwe is grappling its worst ever fuel crisis, itself the result of
acute foreign currency shortages that began when the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) withdrew balance-of-payments support in 1999 after disagreeing
with Harare over fiscal policy and other governance issues.

      President Robert Mugabe's chaotic and often violent seizure of
productive farmland from whites only helped worsen foreign currency
shortages as the mainstay agricultural sector and particularly the tobacco
sector, which is the biggest single export earner, were disrupted.

      Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, has since 2000 when Mugabe
began his land seizure programme survived on food hand outs from
international agencies after farm production fell by about 60 percent. Four
million people or a quarter of the country's population require food aid
this year.

      Apart from fuel, electricity, essential medical drugs, machine spare
parts for industry, other key commodities are also in critical short supply
in Zimbabwe because there is no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.

      Harare has approached China, South Africa and a few other countries
still with friendly ties with Mugabe's isolated government seeking to raise
US$1 billion to buy fuel and food.

      Pretoria is said to have demanded wide-ranging economic and political
reforms before releasing cash to Harare while Beijing promised to help but
has not given the billion dollars in hard cash that Zimbabwe requires to
avert total collapse. - ZimOnline

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Reuters

      Zimbabwe's embattled white farmers vow to press on
      Tue Aug 2, 2005 8:03 PM BST

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's remaining white commercial farmers vowed on
Tuesday to keep tilling the land in the face of proposed constitutional
changes that would bar them from challenging land seizures in court.

President Robert Mugabe's government has seized thousands of white-owned
farms for redistribution to landless blacks after often violent invasions by
state-backed veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.

The government, with an enlarged majority after elections in March, is
proposing a constitutional amendment that will bar individuals whose land
was seized from making a court challenge, with the exception of the amount
paid for compensation.

"The farmers have not given up on their country and are doing what they can
to get back into real, unfettered production," Stoff Hawgood, the Commercial
Farmers' Union vice-president, told an annual congress of the dwindling
group.

"Despite the negatives ... we have a future in agriculture in Zimbabwe."

The CFU says nearly 4,000 white farmers have been dispossessed, leaving
between 600 and 800 still on their land.

Hawgood said there was demand for Zimbabwe's farmers elsewhere on the
continent after the successful launch of a pilot project in Nigeria, where a
group displaced by the government's land policies have started growing crops
again.

"Other African countries are enquiring every day how they too can benefit
from this opportunity to restart their commercial agriculture," he said.

Zimbabwean farmers have also set up shop in fertile countries such as
Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, boosting the production of crops like tea and
tobacco.

A senior Zimbabwe official said at the weekend the government would not
invite back white farmers whose land was seized, despite calls by the
central bank chief to allow them to help the struggling agriculture sector.

Once the mainstay of the economy, commercial agriculture is reeling from the
government's land reforms, which critics say have been chaotic and poorly
conceived.

Official statistics show sector output fell by 3.3 percent in 2004,
worsening food shortages that aid agencies say could threaten up to a third
of the country's 12 million people.

Mugabe's government says the land seizures are necessary to redress
ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890s colonisation of the southern
African state.
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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE TRUST STATEMENT - August 1, 2005

Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

STATEMENT TO ALL AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY OWNERS AND COMMERCIAL FARMERS.

Further to our last statement warning property owners and commercial
farmers about the dangers inherent in trading-in freehold title for 99-year
leases as seems to be Government of Zimbabwe's stated way forward for
agricultural land in Zimbabwe.  The JAG Trust felt it prudent to action an
objective economic overview of freehold title versus leasehold title.  The
Trust asked independent and highly respected economist, John Robertson, to
prepare a short paper on the pros and cons.

With this likely to be a hot topic for debate at CFU's Congress tomorrow,
and GOZ stated intention of making constitutional changes as gazetted mid
last month, publication of this short paper is timeous.

The carrot and stick strategy designed by GOZ to seduce farmers voluntarily
down this road, which includes access to cheap RBZ finance (as the carrot),
has been hardly subtle.  Farmers are warned to exercise extreme caution
when it comes to negotiations that might infringe or possibly compromise
their title deeds and thereby severely prejudice compensation and damages
claims.

Herewith John Robertson's paper:

FREE-HOLD TITLE VERSUS LEASE-HOLD TITLE

Government's proposals to replace the former freehold title to agricultural
land with a 99-year leasehold system appear to offer political advantages
that make the concept attractive to political authorities.  These centre on
features of the arrangements that permit the State:

· to retain ultimate control over the land · to protect peasant communities
from the harshness of market forces · to prevent the development of
empowered pressure groups of farmers · to re-allocate land that officials
consider is not being efficiently used, and · to directly influence the
selection of successors when existing lessees choose to vacate their
properties.

In the proposed legislation to control leases, government intends to
separate the land from improvements on the land.  As the initial
beneficiaries of land redistribution were given the land free of charge,
their successors would also take over the land free of charge, but would be
expected to pay the former occupant for improvements, if the new lessee
agreed these were of value.

In support of the 99-year leasehold proposition, Government has cited the
fact that considerable areas of land in certain developed countries are
successfully leased to farmers.

Unfortunately, the conditions the Government of Zimbabwe intends to
entrench in the leases make them distinctly different from those that apply
in first world countries.  In all the countries concerned, the land is not
owned by the State, buy by a property-owning individual, family or company
under title deed.  In all cases the land itself has value, so each lease
has a market value and is marketable as well as being protected by tenant
right laws.

In the event of a lessee deciding to relinquish a lease, the market value
of the remaining years will be established in the market, a buyer will be
sought through the market and the transaction will be formalised and
registered in the market by estate agents and conveyancers.  Other than
collecting transfer duties and registering the new owner, the State plays
no part in the procedures.

These features make the lease not only transferrable but also bankable
within a free market.  Lessees wishing to invest in useful improvements on
the land can therefore use the lease as collateral for a bank loan.
Should the lessee fail to meet the bank's repayment conditions, the bank is
entitled to foreclose on the borrower and offer the lease for resale on the
market to recover the outstanding loan.

Leasehold arrangements evolved from the earlier feudal systems in Europe as
landlords and tenants tried to find means of unlocking the capital value of
land.  As the short-comings of leasing became apparent and as the power of
the landed aristocracy waned. freehold ownership rights evolved.  When new
areas of settlement and investment were being established in the Americas,
the feudal systems of Spain and Portugal were transplanted into South and
Central America and the evolving freehold land tenure systems were adopted
in North America.

Today, hundreds of years later, South and Central America remains a
collection of developing countries and North America encompasses the most
prosperous countries in the world.

The essential difference between these two vast areas - and the essential
difference between the former communal and commercial areas of Zimbabwe -
is that, where they had individual title, the owners of the land used its
capital value to develop its potential and their own as well.  With the
backing of capital, they achieved remarkable success.  Their title deeds
provided them with security of tenure and a powerful bridge directly into
the banking sector.  Their eagerness to repay their loans, plus their
ability to make long term plans, drew from them resourcefulness, ingenuity
and their most determined efforts to succeed.

By contrast, where the occupants of the land were tenants, their ability to
raise money to carry out development work or to enhance their own skills
was severely limited.  Their uncertain hold on the property they occupied,
but could not own, left them with little incentive to plan ahead or to
invest in something that might have a pay-back only in the longer term and
probably only for someone else.

Today, many South American countries are moving towards individual freehold
property rights in an effort to accelerate development.  China has accepted
the need for individual property rights, and ownership rights are being
restored to East European families that were dispossessed of properties
after the USSR extended its territories after World War II.

Zimbabwe's proposals are taking the country in the opposite direction.  As
they will effectively eliminate the collateral value of the land, they will
make development funding entirely the responsibility of the State and they
will make each individual's performance dependent on State subsidies and
support.  Personal progress will become dependent upon political patronage
rather than resourcefulness, ingenuity and hard work.

Although fixed assets of some value could be built with money loaned by a
bank, the separation of land from the improvements on it makes the recovery
of the debt almost impossible if the borrower defaults.  This is because
the farmer's right to remain on the land is conferred, not by a business
procedure, but by a political act that the bank cannot challenge.

Investment is the first requirement for economic growth, and by according a
capital value to land, considerable capital sums are unlocked and made
available to the investment process.  Individual property rights, market
prices for land, transfers of ownership through the market and the official
registration of ownership rights make up the essential components of the
market mechanism that releases this capital onto the market.

The responsibility, accountability and legal obligations that go with
individual freehold property rights quickly help communities to accept the
challenges of modern economic development and they place the means of
achieving profound economic empowerment within reach of the majority.  A
decision by Zimbabwe to revert to feudal State-ownership of land would be a
massively retrograde step.

JOHN ROBERTSON
AUGUST 2005
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BILL WATCH

[1.08.2005]

Public Hearing on the Constitution Amendment (No 17) Bill

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs

will be holding a public hearing this Thursday.

Date : Thursday 4th August 2005

Time : 9.00 a.m.

Venue : Harare International Conference Centre [Sheraton]

This meeting is open to all interested organisations and members of the
public.  All wanting to make written submissions to this Portfolio Committee
can either deliver these to Parliament [use the Kwame Nkrumah Street
entrance where there is a reception desk and address submissions to the
Clerk of Parliament and mark for the attention of the Clerk of the Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs; or, alternatively you can bring written
submissions to the meeting and hand them in to the Committee Clerk after you
have made your oral presentation.

Written submissions will be distributed to all MP's sitting on this
committee.  Please make them as concise and to the point as possible.

Procedures at the public hearing are as follows:

* Introduction by Chairperson of the Committee, the Hon T.S. Chipanga. He
will announce the procedure he would like followed, but normally it is :

* Open to the floor for submissions - if you have notified the clerk you
have a submission you will be called on to speak.  Alternatively you can
raise you hand until the Chairperson acknowledges you want to make a
contribution.

* Closing comments by the Chairperson.

The Chair of this Portfolio Committee is the Hon Mr.  T.S. Chipanga [M.P.
Makoni East]. The Chairperson or other member of this committee can be
contacted through the clerk of this Committee - Ms. Tabi Macheza [Tel:
700181/700189] .

Other members of this committee are the MPs : Chief Bidi, Mr. F.E.
Chidarikire, Mr D. Coltart, Mr J.M. Gumbo, Mrs S. Machirori, Mr A. Malinga,
Mr W. Madzimure, Chief Malisa, Mr T. Matutu, Mrs Misiharabwi-Mushonga, Chief
Mudzimurema.

We have sent out the Constitution Amendment (No. 17) Bill with our last Bill
Watch.  If you are a new subscriber to Bill Watch and have not received it
but would like it, or if you know anybody else who would like to receive it,
please let us know.

We also have an electronic version of the Constitution of Zimbabwe showing
what changes are being proposed by the new amendments, if you would like
this please request it.

The Bill contains twenty two clauses amending the Constitution.

Some of the key amendments proposed are as follows:

To make provisions for the confirmation of the acquisition of land for
resettlement which gave effect to the Land Reform Programme which started in
2000.  It will provide that these acquisitions cannot be challenged in court
and for the transfer of title of acquired land to the State.  It will also
provide for the acquisition in the future of agricultural land for
resettlement and other purposes.

To reconstitute Parliament as a bicameral legislature consisting of a House
of Assembly and a Senate.  It specifies the numbers for each house and how
they will be elected or appointed.  It provides for the necessary changes to
the way that legislation will be enacted.

To include non-discrimination on the grounds of physical disability and to
include provisions for affirmative action.

To increase the list of grounds on which freedom of movement can be
restricted.

To include the institution and functions of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission within the Constitution and abolish the Electoral Supervisory
Commission.

To change voter qualifications so that non-citizens who are permanent
residents will no longer have the right to vote.

*******************

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied.

*******************

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Read the attached report

From: Freedom Chete
To: freedomchete@yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 6:41 PM
Subject: Fwd: Zimbabwe: ZHRF Reviewing Zimbabwe’s 2005 Parliamentary Elections and Post-Election Period


Dear Friends

 

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum today released their final report which analyses the parliamentary election which held on 31 March 2005 in Zimbabwe. The 45-paged report, released in Harare, is titled “Of Stuffed Ballots and Empty Stomachs Reviewing Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Elections an Post Election Period” and also looks at the incident-packed post election period in the country. Among other things it looks at “Whether the Election was Fair”, “The Role Played By Traditional Leaders in Exacting Reprisals”, “Evictions and Expulsions”, “Denying Food Aid To Suspected Opposition supporters” etc.

                                           

Many thanks.

 

Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa.

 
International Liaison Office
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
56-64 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4JX
Tel. +44-(0)20-7065 0945
Email:IntLO@hrforumzim.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has been in existence since January 1998 when non-governmental organisations working in the field  of human rights  joined together to provide legal and psychological assistance to the victims of the Food Riots of January 1998. The Forum consists of 17 Zimbabwean human rights organisations.
The Zimbabwe  Human Rights NGO  Forum operates a Research and Documentation Unit  and offers legal services through the Public Interest  Unit of the Legal Resources Foundation from the headquarters in Harare, in addition to the information service that is offered internationally from the International Liason Office.
The International Liaison Office of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO  Forum in an effort  to ensure the widest possible coverage for our reports, constantly updates and adds to the email addresses on our list using member organisations' contact lists or other  sources.
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oregonlive.com

Demolition in Zimbabwe hits home in Vancouver
A clerical worker's overseas family has its source of food and income
destroyed in a government crackdown
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
DEE ANNE FINKEN
VANCOUVER -- The powerful arm of Zimbabwe strongman President Robert Mugabe
apparently has stretched around the world to the Pacific Northwest, where it
has inflicted a fistful of pain and misery.

Late last week, Vancouver resident Alice Renteria learned that a chicken
coop -- which provided food and income for 32 people and for which Renteria
had raised funds to help build -- had been destroyed outside the capital
city of Harare in a massive eradication of temporary buildings.

"I totally broke down when I heard about it. I totally broke down," said
Renteria, who said the chicken coop provided the family of co-worker Dorothy
Chitembure Wright an opportunity to become self-sufficient in this southern
African country, where unemployment tops 70 percent and one of every three
adults is HIV-positive.

Labeled as a cleanup of substandard homes, stores and street vendors,
Operation Murambatsvina "Drive out the Trash" has been denounced by the
United Nations and human affairs organizations. Agencies have reported that
the demolition that began in mid-May has left 700,000 homeless and otherwise
affected another 1.5 million people.

"My family has been on this land for 25 years, and what I think, this is
payback time, payback time to the people who did not vote for Mugabe," said
Wright, who continues to use her salary as a clerical worker for the city of
Vancouver to support her extended family of nine in Zimbabwe.

A year and a half ago, Renteria and Wright formed the nonprofit Distant Cry
Fund to raise $3,800 for Wright's family to buy 1,000 chickens and set up a
business they had hoped would sustain them as Zimbabwe's economy continued
to nosedive. The account is held at Columbia Credit Union in Vancouver.

Desperation has spread throughout Zimbabwe as AIDS, crime, poverty and
political corruption rage.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the reports about the sweeps are
"profoundly distressing," and another U.N. official called for a stop to the
demolition, saying the actions were being undertaken "with indifference to
human suffering."

Until its destruction, Wright said the coop was producing enough eggs and
chicken meat to benefit 32 people, including her 72-year-old father, her
71-year-old mother, two sisters, a brother, one nephew and three nieces.

Wright's younger sister, Jane, is HIV-positive and requires medicine daily.
Another brother died five years ago from complications from AIDS.

Wright said she directed her brother, Andrew Chitembure, to go to the
officials to secure a building permit for the coop when she got word the
government was escalating from destroying homes to targeting other
structures.

"My folks rushed to the council to get a permit, but by the time they got
back, the chicken coop had been destroyed," Wright said. "Now they are
holding a permit but have no chicken coop."

Many of the chickens ran free, but Wright said her family moved them to
their home after briefly containing the birds in a church. Concerned about
health hazards, Wright is trying to persuade her family to sell the
remaining chickens.

Renteria said Wright is overwhelmed.

"She told me her father has nearly lost the will to live," Renteria said.

She added that Wright is reluctant to appeal for more donations, but efforts
to raise more money to send to her family will continue.

"Dorothy hates asking again because she feels people are thinking, 'When is
this ever going to end?' " Renteria said. "But I told her, we are not going
to give up. I don't care if it is just she and I giving money. I have a
strong will not to give up."
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News24

Tsvangirai ready to meet Mugabe
02/08/2005 19:53  - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday that
he was ready to sit down for talks with President Robert Mugabe to resolve
the country's deepening political and economic crises.

Tsvangirai said: "Meeting President Mugabe to solve the national question
that we are confronted with any day, anytime, anywhere, I am ready to do
so."

Tsvangirai was speaking at his home after the state dropped treason charges
against him.

His remarks came after Mugabe said he would resist international pressure
for him to open talks with the opposition as part of a comprehensive
solution to the Zimbabwe crisis.

Mugabe said: "We can never do that, we shall never do that... and no one has
the right to want to dictate to us that we accommodate the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)."

The leader of the MDC said Zimbabwe's main problem was state repression
illustrated by a recent demolitions campaign that left hundreds of thousands
homeless.

Avoiding possible expulsion

Tsvangirai said: "It's not Tony Blair who came to destroy people's homes."

Tsvangirai was alluding to claims by Mugabe that Blair harboured plans to
re-colonise Zimbabwe using the MDC as a front.

On South Africa's proposed financial aid package to Zimbabwe to repay a long
overdue loan from the International Monetary Fund and avoid possible
expulsion from IMF arrangements, Tsvangirai said the intervention would only
be a stopgap measure.

He said: "You are managing the crisis and not resolving it. What is needed
in Zimbabwe is not to deal with the symptoms, but the causes of the problem,
which is political...

"We wish that SA would use this leverage of this offer of $1bn to make sure
that this political crisis is resolved."

SA officials had said they were holding talks with Zimbabwe on a possible
bailout package, but had not given a figure.

Media reports had said that SA would attach tough conditions for the
financial aid including talks with the opposition.
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South African rescue package to Zimbabwe

      By Tichaona Sibanda
      02 August 2005

      A leading Zimbabwe human rights lawyer says South Africa's financial
rescue package, which is being conditionally offered to Zimbabwe, is a clear
admission that Thabo Mbeki's quite diplomacy has failed to yield any
positive results.Gabriel Shumba, a lawyer and activist based in
Johannesburg, is asking how the South African government is going to hold
the Zanu (PF) regime to conditions, when they've failed to do so up to now.

      Mugabe has appealed to Mbeki to be bailed out to the tune of R6,5
billion, in spite of his appalling record of battering the opposition, human
rights abuses and disregarding basic freedoms.

      Among the terms of the rescue deal would be that Zimbabwe return to
the rule of law and that Zanu (PF) step up talks with the opposition MDC;
lift restrictions on the media and civil groups and protect the property
rights of South African investments in the country. Reserve Bank governor of
South Africa, Tito Mboweni, is reported to have declared that he will not
authorise any payment to Zimbabwe or to the IMF unless Mugabe signals his
commitment to these conditions. Already Mugabe has ruled out any future
dialogue with the MDC, telling his supporters on his return from his futile
trip to China that there would be no talks between his party and the
opposition.
      Shumba, a torture victim at the hands of Mugabe's notorious state
security agents, is adamant Mugabe will agree in principle to the terms but
will renege as soon as the money his in his hands. 'Mugabe has reneged on
most, if not all, other promises he has made before. And how is the South
African government going to monitor how those funds will be used,' asked
Shumba.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

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Several sectors hit by strikes

      By Tererai Karimakwenda
      02 August 2005

      As Zimbabwe's economy continues to deteriorate with no long-term
solution in sight, employees in several sectors have thrown in the towel and
gone on strike. What many are demanding is a huge increase in salary and
transport allowances in order to keep up with rapidly rising inflation
rates.
      Workers in the printing and packaging industry are on strike demanding
a 200 percent salary increment. They also want housing and transport
allowances of $1.5 million and $300 000 a month respectively.

      Meanwhile, junior doctors reached day five of their strike in which
they are demanding at least an 800 percent increase in salary. It has been
reported that patients were turned away Monday from the two major referral
hospitals in Harare as a result of the strike. A few senior doctors are said
to be attending to critical cases only. The doctors have vowed to remain on
strike till their demands are met.

      At the same time about 300 000 drivers and conductors in the public
transport sector have been put on forced leave due to the critical shortage
of fuel that has paralysed the country.

      Collin Gwiyo, deputy secretary general of The Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions, said this problem with transport is affecting productivity. He
said workers who arrive after walking for 2 hours need to rest first before
starting work. As they need to leave earlier much productive time is lost.
Gwiyo also said a strike in one sector within the Public services Commission
(PSC) tends to trigger other strikes. A salary increase for workers of a
particular grade leads to others in the same grade wanting more. Finally
Gwiyo said employers need to show some concern for their workers in these
tough times. When no long term solution is in place, dialogue is the key.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
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Army Refutes UN Report Claims

The Herald (Harare)

August 2, 2005
Posted to the web August 2, 2005

Harare

THE Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) never took part in Operation
Murambatsvina/Restore Order contrary to claims by United Nations Special
Envoy Mrs Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka in her report, the Minister of Defence, Dr
Sydney Sekeramayi, has said.

Mrs Tibaijuka was in the country last month on a mission to assess the
impact of Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order.

In her report, which has since been dismissed by Government as biased, Mrs
Tibaijuka claimed that the army was involved in the clean-up operation,
which she described as being carried out "in a military style."

Dr Sekeramayi said defence forces were only taking part in Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle because there was an urgent need to construct houses
and business premises for people affected in the clean-up exercise.

"The army was never involved in the demolitions but is now coming in to help
reconstruct houses and business premises in the recently launched Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle.

"It is our view that the forces should participate in undertaking certain
tasks like the urgent need for reconstruction of houses," Dr Sekeramayi said
at the launch of the ZDF community assistance week."

Turning to the celebrations to mark the Defence Forces Day, Dr Sekeramayi
said the commemorations, which are set for next Tuesday, were unique in that
the country would be celebrating 25 years of peace and unity.

"This year's celebrations, that will be held under the theme ZDF celebrating
25 years of defence excellence, are unique in that the country is also
celebrating 25 years of peace and unity.

"The uniqueness of this year's celebrations is also reflected in the fact
that for the first time in our history, we are going to have some regional
defence ministers, defence chiefs and their delegations from the Sadc region
as our invited guests," he said.

This year's Defence Forces Community Assistance week will see members of the
defence forces engage in various non-military activities under the Military
Aid to Civil Authorities roles.

Some of their activities would include constructing laundry facilities at
Marondera Hospital, construction of school halls, toilets and blocks at
various schools across the country among others.
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