Security chiefs rally state agents behind Mugabe

Zim Online

Friday 15 December 2006

      BULAWAYO - Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri last week met senior
police officers in Bulawayo and Gweru cities to urge them to remain loyal to
President Robert Mugabe, in what sources said is part of a campaign by top
security commanders to ensure their men remain supportive of the veteran
leader.

      Mugabe, in office since 1980, has relied on the army and police to
thwart public discontent in the face of Zimbabwe's worst ever economic
crisis, while his ruling ZANU PF party today begins a conference that shall
endorse prolonging the President's term to end in 2010 instead of 2008.

      The sources however said Chihuri, who arrived in Bulawayo on December
7 aboard an Airforce of Zimbabwe helicopter and left for Gweru on the same
day, did not mention the issue of extension of Mugabe's term - opposed by a
large majority of Zimbabweans - in his meetings with all commissioned police
officers in the two cities.

      "The Commissioner said we should have the interests of the nation at
heart. He said we should ensure our subordinates understand that rich
rewards await those who are steadfast in their support for the government,"
said an inspector, who attended Chihuri's three-hour address to senior
officers at Bulawayo police's Rose Camp headquarters.

      Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed that Chihuri met senior
officers in Bulawayo and Gweru but declined to disclose further details.

      "Yes, I can confirm that the Commissioner held security meetings with
senior police officers last week.. but it is a sensitive matter not suitable
for public consumption," said Bvudzijena.

      Our sources, who are senior officers in the police and army but whose
names we cannot disclose, said Chihuri's meetings with police last week were
in fact part of a campaign by the commanders of the police, the army and air
force to calm their forces and ensure they remained loyal to Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU PF party.

      Chihuri is expected to travel to other parts of the country meeting
senior police officers there while army commander Philip Sibanda and his Air
Force counterpart, Perence Shiri, are also expected to travel across the
country mobilising their troops to rally behind Mugabe's administration.

      The sources said the exercise was at the behest of Mugabe himself who
they said was eager to endear himself with ordinary police officers and
soldiers by promising handsome rewards once the government gets the
resources.

      "He (Mugabe) has promised to reward handsomely those that remain
resolute, once the country's economic fortunes change," said another source,
who works for the state's secret police service.

      ZimOnline was unable yesterday to get comment on the matter from
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba, Sibanda or Shiri while Defence Minister
Sydney Sekeramayi refused to answer  questions on the matter, saying he does
not "discuss security matters with journalists".

      The security forces have firmly stood by Mugabe's government but lower
ranking police and soldiers have not been spared from the effects of hunger,
hyperinflation, food shortages and a host of other troubles spawned by
Zimbabwe's seven-year old economic crisis.

      These lower ranking members of the security forces will also earn way
below the poverty line next year after the government failed to allocate
enough resources for their salaries in next year's national budget.

      Political analysts cannot say for sure how the ordinary police officer
and soldier would in the long run react to worsening hunger and poverty. -
ZimOnline

Report slams Zimbabwe police torture

Mail and Guardian

      Justine Gerardy | Johannesburg, South Africa

      14 December 2006 04:00

            Zimbabwean police torture 33% of political detainees, according
to a study on police brutality released in Johannesburg on Thursday.

            "The Zimbabwean government has reverted to patterns of state
control established under colonialism," said Archbishop Pius Ncube of the
Solidarity Peace Trust.

            These include mass arrests under repressive legislation and
brutality against civilians.

            Growing police brutality has coincided with the rise of a
democratic challenge to President Robert Mugabe's government.

            Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has ruled Zimbabwe for 26 years.

            The 63-page study, by the Solidarity Peace Trust and the
Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, evaluates 1 981 political arrests
between 2000 and 2005.

            Entitled Policing the State, it says the arrests took place
within a brutal police force, an inhumane jail system and a collapsing court
system.

            Evidence of torture was found in 33% of the cases and detainees
were often kept beyond 48 hours in "appalling" holding cells.

            "Our data reflects that there is a one in three chance of being
assaulted or tortured before, during or after arrest in Zimbabwe."

            Nearly 90% of those arrested on political grounds in the study
were not charged.

            Convictions had been obtained in only 1,5% of cases that went to
trial.

            No real attempt was made to bring people to trial but arrests
were a "pre-emptive strike" to stop people taking action, said Brian
Raftopolous of the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation.

            Residents were further demobilised by a huge economic decline,
which had led to reliance on everyday survival tactics. Civil society was
also weakened, Raftopolous told a media briefing.

            "Zimbabwe is in a state of a deepening crisis, a deepening
stalemate."

            Mass marches were possible in the 1990s but the state's
subsequent response has been vicious with a peak in political arrests in
2003.

            By the end of 2005, the democratic movement was in disarray with
no effective response to state oppression, said Ncube, the Catholic
Archbishop of Bulawayo.

            "Even the opposition party is divided partly due to a lack of
vision ... in other words, a lack of leadership. We need to identify a
leader."

            Zimbabweans need to be educated in order to hold leaders
accountable.

            "If we educate them, they can stand up to these dictators and
oppressors."

            The police also need to be educated, he said.

            Raftopolous said international and regional pressure must be
kept up.

            The South African government's support of Mugabe's regime, even
when human rights abuses are evident, is worrying, he said.

            "Where there has been evidence of abuse, we have not seen South
Africa speak out. We don't see any critical response, even on clear human
rights abuses."

            A DVD, A Patriotic Force, was released on Thursday with the
study. -- Sapa

Zimbabwe President Extends His Stay in Office for Two More Years

VOA

      By Peta Thornycroft
      Harare
      14 December 2006

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who is 82, says he wants to stay in office
two years beyond his present term. Some observers believe he will stay in
power for the rest of his life. Peta Thornycroft reports many economists say
bankrupt Zimbabwe's economy cannot recover while Mr. Mugabe remains in
power.

Ahead of the fractious ruling Zanu-PF annual conference, which began
Thursday, President Mugabe has confirmed he will not retire when his term
expires in March 2008.

He told visiting Canadian journalists, in an interview published in the
Herald newspaper Thursday, he will retire some time, but not now, when the
ruling Zanu-PF is in what he describes as a "shambles."

Eight out of ten of Zanu-PF's provincial executives voted, in advance of the
conference, that the 2008 presidential election should be combined with the
next parliament poll, due in 2010.

Previously, President Mugabe had indicated he would retire in 2008 to write
books.

Several political analysts have been predicting that Zanu-PF is so divided
over internal battles about who would succeed Mr. Mugabe, that it is
inevitable he will extend his term.

There are several frontrunners who have indicated they want his job. Alleged
financial and political scandals have surfaced about each of them in
Zimbabwe's local press.

Mr. Mugabe came to power after a bloody civil war ended white minority rule
in 1980.

Zimbabwe was one of Africa's best hopes. Mr. Mugabe inherited a reasonably
efficient and developed infrastructure.

Within two years of independence from Britain, Mr. Mugabe sent the army into
the southern Matabeleland Province and thousands of people there were
slaughtered.

Mr. Mugabe oversaw the best education and health systems in Africa. Zimbabwe
prospered.

In 2000, he suffered his first political defeat when the new opposition, the
Movement for Democratic Change, mobilized enough support to win a referendum
opposing introduction of a new constitution.

Mr. Mugabe then sent in supporters to begin a long and painful eviction of
more than 4,000 white commercial farmers and tens of thousands of their
workers.

Since then, the agriculturally based economy collapsed. Zimbabwe now has the
highest inflation rate in the world, at more than 1,000 percent per annum.
It depends on food aid from the United Nations.

Economist John Robertson and several other financial analysts say that
Zimbabwe cannot survive another three years of Mr. Mugabe in power.

They say a new leader needs to be found to introduce political and economic
reforms and take Zimbabwe back into the international community, so it can
access foreign loans to stabilize the currency and rebuild the shattered
infrastructure.

Mr. Mugabe says it is logical for parliament and presidential elections to
be run concurrently. Zimbabwe's parliament will have to pass another
constitutional amendment to combine the two polls.

Only one Zanu-PF politician has indicated that she is not happy with this. A
Zanu-PF executive in one province, lead by vice president Joice Mujuru, has
not endorsed Mr. Mugabe's extension of power.

Earlier this month, Security Minister Didymus Mutasa said he believed Mr.
Mugabe should remain in office for the rest of his life.

Zimbabwean activists fear Mugabe firmly in power

Reuters

      Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:38 PM GMT

By Michael Georgy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwean activists accused President Robert
Mugabe on Thursday of exploiting what they called Western powers' double
standards on human rights and a weak opposition to brutally crush dissent.

Their charges came as Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party looked set to endorse a
controversial proposal this weekend to extend his presidency by two years to
2010, a move critics say will deepen the country's economic crisis.

After releasing a report on abuses and a video showing police clubbing
opposition figures, activists said U.S. President George W. Bush and his
ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair had no genuine interest in Zimbabwe.

"There are huge double standards when we look at Bush and Blair's positions
both globally and in terms of Zimbabwe," said Brian Raftopoulous of the
Institute of Justice and Reconciliation at a Johannesburg news briefing.

"President Mugabe has exploited that enormously in gaining support within
the Third World, in gaining support within Africa," he said.

What the opposition forces in Zimbabwe now needed to focus on was
"reorganisation of their own capacity and to understand the contradiction of
the Bush-Blair axis", Raftopoulous said.

The combative Mugabe, 82, has ruled the southern African nation since
independence from Britain in 1980.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), charges Mugabe and ZANU-PF have rigged three elections since
2000 to remain in power -- accusations firmly rejected by the government.

In that time Zimbabwe has descended into a deep economic crisis, and critics
blame Mugabe's policies for food, fuel and foreign currency shortages,
massive unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of over 1,000
percent.

Mugabe blames the problems on sanctions by Western powers.

The report accuses Mugabe's police of arresting activists without charge and
torturing them.

Pius Ncube, the outspoken archbishop of the southern Zimbabwean city of
Bulawayo, said the opposition lacked a leader and accused Tsvangirai of
dividing his MDC.

"We know that people are ready to be self-sacrificing if there is a good
leader," he said.

"Mass protest is still possible if people are given confidence. ... The
government wants to demoralise the people, to walk over their heads so that
Mugabe can just do anything and everyone should be quiet."

Ncube doubted African leaders could bring about change in Zimbabwe, accusing
them of widespread corruption.

"If you live in a glass house it is very hard for you to throw stones at
others because they will throw stones ... and smash your own glass house,"
he said.

Harare ordered to remove dump site from Victoria Falls

Zim Online

Friday 15 December 2006

      VICTORIA FALLS - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has ordered the Zimbabwe government to remove
a dump site near the Victoria Falls arguing that it is polluting the tourist
resort area.

      The dump site, in the poor suburb of Chinotimba, is a few kilometers
away from the famous Victoria Falls which is listed by UNESCO as a World
Heritage Site.

      The call to move the dump site came as UNESCO officials met
representatives from the governments of Zimbabwe and Zambia to address
development projects at the Falls.

      UNESCO says Victoria Falls risks being delisted as a World Heritage
Site because of uncontrolled industrial developments that could disturb its
natural environment.

      Sources that attended the meeting held in the resort town last week,
said UNESCO had also ordered Harare to stop using a helipad at Elephant
Hills Hotel in the resort town.

      "The UNESCO officials at the meeting also resolved that Zimbabwean
authorities should stop Elephant Hills Hotel from using a helicopter pad
situated within the hotel," �said the source.

      Zambia and Zimbabwe have in the past accused each other of causing
environmental damage to the Victoria Falls with UNESCO threatening to remove
the Falls from its list of world heritage sites.

      There have been reports that the Zambian government had approved
massive plans to build a large hotel, chalets and a world-class golf course
on the Zambia side of the Falls.

      The Victoria Falls was one of Zimbabwe's biggest tourist attractions
before the tourism sector collapsed because of bad publicity surrounding
President Robert Mugabe's violent and chaotic land reforms. - ZimOnline

CIO warns of civil war 1

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - Middle and junior-ranking officers of the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) have recommended that President Robert Mugabe abandon the
idea of postponing presidential elections from 2008 to 2010 saying these
plans risk igniting  civil war.

The details emerged as the feuding opposition MDC factions vowed to close
ranks and fight Mugabe as a united front in a double effort to force him to
abandon the "politically contentious plan."

Intelligence officials interviewed this week said the CIO's top directors
who report directly to the President were buffering this message from
reaching "Number 1".

The CIO officers said several of their colleagues working on the "PP
(presidential poll) assignment" had emphasised the need to rejuvenate the
ruling party but still maintain the presidential election timetable, which
must be held by March 2008.

"We are dyed-in-the-wool intelligence operatives and our mandate is to
interact with the lowest members of society and provide feedback as frankly
and accurately as possible to our principals," said one junior officer.
"Several of our officers have officially confirmed that there is anger out
there over these plans to postpone the elections given the deepening
hardships. Generally there is a strong feeling from voters that they will
not support Zanu (PF) unless Mugabe retires. The President is however being
badly advised by those who report to him directly," he said, adding that
this was the general sentiment among middle and junior ranking CIO officers,
who constitute the majority of the 3,000-strong spy agency.

The officials said the "foot soldiers" - or junior and middle rank CIO
officers deployed to mingle and interact with the ordinary people - had in
the past few months conducted an "intelligence ballot" which supported the
theory that "there is an urgent need to reconstitute Zanu (PF) through a new
leadership" to enhance its electoral fortunes. They said most of the
feedback suggested "Mugabe should be persuaded to go into dignified
retirement."

Can China Save Zimbabwe's Economy?

Fahamu (Oxford)

OPINION
December 14, 2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006

John Blessing Karumbidza

The 'look east' policy of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is well
documented. But the deeper implications of Zimbabwe's relationship with
China are less well understood. Whether the relationship turns out to be a
win-win one will depend much on how effectively Zimbabwe can build
institutional and bureaucratic capacity to harness Chinese funds and
investment for the benefit of the country, writes John Blessing Karumbidza,
who doubts whether this will be the case, raising questions as to whether
Mugabe is simply replacing Western colonialism with Chinese imperialism.

'We have turned east where the sun rises, and given our backs to the west,
where the sun sets' - Robert Mugabe on the occasion of the celebration of 25
years of Zimbabwean independence, May 2005.

That China is a rising global economic player of note in Africa is well
established. China's interest in Africa is part of a calculated plan and
policy to 'go global'. Africa offers a strategic training ground and
opportunity for Chinese capital. In an address to the Nigerian Senate in
2005, the Chinese President described China-Africa relations as 'win-win
economic cooperation'. This paper explores what will become of the renewed
relationship between China and Zimbabwe, or more appropriately, the Zimbabwe
African National Union, Patriotic Front (ZANU PF).

It is arguable that whether the relationship becomes what the Chinese
President described as a 'win-win' relationship is not entirely dependent on
China, rather on whether Zimbabwe has the institutional and bureaucratic
capacity to turn Chinese funds and investment to benefit the country. There
are reasonable doubts about the possibility of widespread and long term
economic benefits to Zimbabwe. Temporary benefits so far include the
political preservation of Mugabe reign and personal aggrandizement through
corruption and kickbacks by his ZANU PF cronies flowing from Chinese
investment.

On the whole, it would not be fair to blame the Chinese for acting to
further their interests. It is incumbent upon the government of Zimbabwe and
its people (and any other African country for that matter) to put in place a
programme and strategy for chanelling funds and direct investment in a way
that contributes to growth of its own economy.

Questions about Chinese financing and business involvement in African
development programmes include: Are they based on an equal partnership? Are
African governments able to negotiate terms of interaction without 'pawning'
their countries and submitting their people to exploitation?

There is growing concern that China disregards human rights and democracy.
It has a reputation for the abuse of workers' rights, intolerance of
political opposition; and dislikes a free press. In the name of
non-interference, China justifies doing business with pariah states and
dictators - which also means that civil society and the citizenry cannot
hold them accountable for flaunting environmental and labour laws.

It is important to note however that this Chinese 'non-interference' policy
cannot be permanent. The Chinese are well aware of this themselves. Where
deals are signed with unpopular dictatorial regimes that could later be
revised by a new government, it becomes necessary for the Chinese to protect
such regimes. This explains their arming of the ZANU PF government in
Zimbabwe. For example, China funded Zimbabwe's acquisition of
military-strength radio jamming equipment to block opposition broadcasts
ahead of the 2005 elections.

Liberation ties paying off for China

In seeking to gain a hold on African resources and opportunities for sale of
Chinese goods, China should be wary of losing political capital and
'credibility' it acquired from supporting African liberation struggles
through conniving with dictatorial regimes. Prior to the present day
questionable expansion, China had no burden of historical guilt in Africa,
unlike the global North. China therefore gives credence to the likes of
Mugabe when it claims to be protecting African sovereignty. Whereas British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bono see Africa as a 'scar on everyone's
conscience', still troubled by their historical guilt of the slave and
colonial era, the Chinese see Africa as a business opportunity.

The earlier 'ideological' phase of Chinese-African relations was part of a
global strategy which by the mid 1970s saw some 15,000 doctors and over
10,000 agricultural engineers from China serving all over the Third World.
It is common knowledge that many African countries exploited the cold war
and the bi-polar world system by claiming to be socialist to gain assistance
during liberation and after independence, going first to the West, then the
East for development aid.

By 1977 Chinese trade with Africa reached a record US$817,000,000. The new
orientation found institutional expression in the first China-Africa
Co-operation Forum held in Beijing in 2000 - a mechanism to promote
diplomatic relations, trade and investment between China and African
countries. In the same year, China-Africa trade passed $10bn for first time.
By 2003 it reached US$18.5bn. By 2004, nearly 700 Chinese companies were
operating in 49 African countries. According to some estimates US$30 billion
will change between Chinese and African hands this year. More recent Chinese
estimates claim that it is already approaching US$40billion.

China is using the UN's five-point proposal to 'assist' developing countries
accelerate development, including: 'Granting zero-tariff treatment for some
exports from the least developed countries, increasing aid to the
heavily-indebted poor countries and least developed countries and cancelling
debts contracted by them, providing concessional loans and effective
medicine for treating malaria, and training professionals.'

These steps will increase China's access to the raw materials, energy and
food resources it requires to sustain growth as well as feed its population.
Observers have pointed to the fact that 'more recently China's policy has
shifted from cold war ideology to a more classical pursuit of economic
self-interest in the form of access to raw materials, markets and spheres of
influence through investment, trade and military assistance - to the point
where China can be suspected of pursuing the goals of any classical
imperialist'. Moreover, the heavy militarisation of the Zimbabwean
government through Chinese loans and technology raises suspicions of China's
global ambitions to develop strategic military bases in Africa.

A closer look at the nature and character of Chinese investment in Zimbabwe

For Mugabe, who sees democracy and development as mutually exclusive, the
fact that China has been able to raise 400 million of its people out of
poverty over two decades, without being subjected to democratic elections
and a free press serves as a useful example. Mugabe cites the present world
order as a source of conflict and war, and calls for a more positive
alternative order.

China was ZANU PF's main supporter in the 1970s in the war against colonial
rule. After independence, Zimbabwe declared itself Marxist-Leninist and
announced the intention to reorganise society along socialist lines while
courting Western aid and and the IMF.

Since 1980, Zimbabwe has revoked the liberation era ties with China to
maintain low profile diplomatic ties, which are now upgraded to a
development partnership. As a result of the lack of conditionalities on
Chinese loans and funding, Chinese loans in the 1980s went into white
elephant projects, such as the construction of the National Stadium.

By the end of 2004, Chinese investments in Zimbabwe were estimated at
US$600m. To service the increasing Chinese investment and the 9000 Chinese
believed to be living and working in Zimbabwe a bi-weekly flight between
Harare and Beijing was launched.. Another US$600m was pledged at the June
2005 Asia Summit; and separate deals between Chinese state and private firms
were signed with various Zimbabwean corporations. Renewed and increased
China-Zimbabwe relations brought about now familiar circumstances: a
Zimbabwean state now considered by the global North as a pariah state; an
unprecedented economic slump; unemployment above 75 per cent, inflation
heading towards 2000 per cent;, and shortages of consumer goods, most
importantly fuel.

European and American travel sanctions, the lack of any IMF rating, coupled
with the ANC in South Africa's conditions of political and economic
'normalisation' have taken their toll. In August 2005 therefore, snubbing
the efforts of Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe turned to China for funding to 'revive
the economy through increased agricultural production'. This led to Chinese
promises for increased economic cooperation in many areas of the economy and
an immediate US$200,000,000 to finance agricultural production and three
MA-60 passenger planes.

Mugabe fought the 2005 elections on the argument that Zimbabwe must not
become a colony again. But it is questionable whether he has not in fact
simply replaced Western colonialism with Chinese imperialism. Having ceded
control of strategic state firms and massive Chinese takeovers, including of
railways, the electricity supply, Air Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation makes 'win-win' economic cooperation between China and Zimbabwe
appears doubtful. Given that Zimbabwe has no comparative advantage over
China in any sector, this opening up of the economy is most likely to
benefit the Chinese perhaps even at the expense of Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe lacks the institutional and strategic infrastructure to effect
requisite economic transformation, and will have difficulty putting Chinese
development loans to good use. The failure to revive the agriculture sector
since the 2000 land seizures is a major concern.

It is not surprising therefore that the Chinese signed a contract to farm
386 square miles of land when millions of Zimbabweans are still landless.
Recent land seizures saw most of the productive land fall into the hands of
the elite, while the rural poor remain mostly landless. The Reserve Bank
governor's monetary policy statement emphasised the need for the agriculture
sector to pull its weight in the economic turnaround of the country
encouraging the new landowners (mostly urban 'telephone farmers') that 'the
battle cry is for all those who hold land to view it as an effective means
of economic emancipation rather than a status symbol'.

Beyond the rhetoric of 'the land being the economy and the economy the land'
there is no apparent strategy for the necessary transformation required for
agriculture to release its potential for the economic turnaround needed in
Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe cannot even benefit from the Chinese Maoist blueprint for
rural economic transformation. The joint Chinese ventures in Zimbabwean
agriculture amount to nothing more than land renting and typical
agri-business relations that turn the land holders and their workers to
labour tenants and subject them to exploitation.

There is additional fear that the takeover of strategic national firms by
the Chinese companies is a security threat and can be seen as loss of
national sovereignty. Most sinister of all is that the Chinese authorities
must know that Zimbabwe is more than likely to default on payment of bills;
and wishes precisely this, in order to obtain a tighter grip on Zimbabwean
assets.

It would be naïve to think that China is motivated by the need to salvage
the Zimbabwean economy from its economic abyss; indeed even the government
does not itself believe this. It is simply a venture to save political face.
For the Chinese, the investment in Zimbabwe is nothing different from
Chinese ventures elsewhere on the continent. The current arrangements,
simply allows Mugabe to keep the illusion of victory over the West; and
enable his cronies in the army, police, government and business to partner
with the Chinese in further exploitation of the masses. As in the 1980s, the
poor people will be told to tie their stomachs and pull up their socks, and
that a revolution is not for 'cry babies'. For as long as Mugabe reigns over
the abyss, the rhetoric of imperialist demons fighting against Zimbabwe will
continue to suffice.

In the context of a politicized security system, silenced media and partial
judiciary, the Chinese will drain the Zimbabwean economy and future
generations will pay for it.

Anti-Chinese xenophobia: Attitudes towards the Chinese in Zimbabwe

When confronted with reports of crime against Chinese nationals (numbering
not more than 10 000), Zimbabwe established a Chinese desk at the central
police station in Harare. Mugabe has also appointed a Minister for Chinese
affairs.

Already, the police officers, the University of Zimbabwe and schools have
been asked to offer classes in Mandarin (soon after losing their love of
French). Reacting to the new requirement to learn Mandarin, Washington
Katema, ZINASU president, snubbed the move as a case of the 'madness of the
Mugabe regime scaling new heights' and as a political gimmick to lure the
Chinese into the country to bankroll the bankrupt regime. These excesses by
Mugabe's regime are likely to fuel xenophobia against the Chinese. Many
reports of crime and abuse of women and children, rape and violent crimes
against Zimbabwean nationals are yet to receive such a high profile
response.

The economic background to the anti-Chinese sentiments is that Zimbabweans
are horrified at the prospect of a permanent take-over of strategic state
companies in what is generally considered a desperate move to perpetuate the
tenure of ZANU PF. Trade unionists are worried that companies are being
forced to close having lost their market to cheaper goods imported directly
from China, and about the abuse of workers. The Chinese managers are alleged
to have a negative attitude towards local people and massive dislike for
trade unionists. At will they are known to 'forget' to understand English as
a means to avoid dialogue with anyone critical of their actions. The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) was quoted as saying that a Chinese
steel company operating in Willowvale in Harare has unacceptable pollution
levels but the government treats them with kid gloves.

Conclusion

In the next half a century if all African countries adopted the shift from
colonial languages that create a barrier to cultural unity, China could
replace them with one language spoken across the continent. Maybe then, a
'United States of Africa' - under Chinese 'prefectship' - may become
possible. After all, China would gain more advantages from a united Africa
than from a balkanised continent. China is in Africa to pursue expansion,
consistent with its search for global dominance, and to avoid being
out-competed by the US. It therefore requires resources, raw materials, and
markets, and space for its surplus population.

As far as Africa is concerned however, as long as poverty remains at the
centre of the conflicts and crises in Africa, and there is no African
reconstruction and development strategy, conceived and funded from local
resources, the giant panda will carry on from where the colonialists and
imperialists left.

Mugabe's looking 'east where the sun rises', expecting Chinese loans to
develop the beleaguered economy remains a fantasy as long as his politics
and economics are wrong. Meantime, with Mugabe fixated on Chinese promises,
the people of Zimbabwe, especially the middle class that decide to leave the
country at the whims of Mugabe, and Chinese take over, in the pursuit of
temporary respite in the diaspora, only have themselves to blame.

. John (Blessing) Karumbidza is an economic historian and researcher in
rural sociology based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He
is a public intellectual seeking to promote the position that 'another
Afrika is possible'.

. This is a shortened version of an article by John (Blessing) Karumbidza.
The full version, including references, will be available in a forthcoming
book to be published in January by Fahamu and called 'African perspectives
on China in Africa'. The full articles will also be made available as .PDF
files on the Pambazuka News website.

. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at
www.pambazuka.org

Action from the Zimbabwe Vigil

ZISCO: The cost of Zimbabwe's kleptocracy

Sokwanele

Sokwanele Report : 14 December 2006
Day by day, we count the cost of this kleptocracy that rules our nation: we
count it in terms of the bodies of those who die silently week by week of
Aids, malnutrition and poverty; in terms of the disruption of family life,
and the misery of the millions of economic refugees; in terms of the
desecration of the environment; and, as here, in terms of the cost to the
economy brought about by the plunder of national assets. What will be left
once this evil is at an end, and the culprits are finally brought to book?

With no real democratic institutions in existence, and no law enforcement,
there is no culture of accountability, which leaves the ruling elite free to
loot and plunder as they please. When their heinous crimes do come to light,
instead of heads rolling, and the government falling into disgrace - as
would happen in a working democracy - the rulers treat those over whom they
rule with utter contempt, of which the refusal to answer to parliament is a
symptom. Without accountability, those in power simply decide amongst
themselves what path to take in the latest and largest incidence of national
fraud - some are even using it to further their own political agendas!

Zimbabwean parastatals are a by-word for mismanagement, incompetence,
inefficiency and corruption. Eyes roll and heads wag at the mention of Air
Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board, Zesa, PTC, Zupco, and others. These are
state-owned companies, meaning that the government, which is elected (we use
this word loosely, given the theft of post-Independence elections in
Zimbabwe) by the people, is accountable to the people of Zimbabwe for the
management of these companies.

Zisco, the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, is one of the largest
state-owned enterprises in Zimbabwe. It also boasts the largest steel works
in the region outside South Africa. Its principal activities are the
production and marketing of iron and steel. At full capacity, the company
produced 2 million tons of steel a year, but current production is less than
300 000 tons (or 15%). The drop in production stands in sharp contrast to
the firming of the world's steel price. In July, the Reserve Bank saved
Zisco from closure by providing an emergency Z$2 trillion (old currency)
lifeline, and the firm is saddled with significant foreign debts.

Zisco is now at the centre of a scandal that is rocking government circles,
the biggest case of high-level fraud and corruption to come to light since
Independence in 1980. As one Zisco official put it, the raiding of the
Midlands-based parastatal will make all previous government graft cases
"look like a Sunday afternoon picnic when it eventually explodes".

If this is happening at Zisco, what is happening in other parastatals? Are
they any different? Perhaps it is only the scale of the looting that is
different. The Zanu PF principle is always the same: take what you can while
you can, regardless of law and equity.

The Zisco saga: the facts
Through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Zisco had negotiated a
profitable USD 400 million management contract with an Indian firm, Global
Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL). GSHL was supposed to have injected foreign
currency for the rehabilitation of Zisco plant components, particularly the
blast furnaces, coke oven batteries, furnace and rolling mills; after 20
years, management control would have reverted to government.

This deal is now off, following a report by NECI (the National Economic
Conduct Inspectorate), which implicates high-ranking government officials in
the systematic looting of Zisco - on a scale that is difficult for most even
to imagine.

A parliamentary committee was set up to investigate the existence and
findings of the NECI report. In September, Industry and International Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu, told the committee of the existence of the NECI
report, saying that it implicated Members of Parliament and members of
Mugabe's Cabinet in the corruption at the parastatal. A week later, he
back-tracked on his words, apparently after uproar from his Zanu PF
colleagues and the government, who were afraid of exposure. Mpofu then
failed to appear before the parliamentary committee, and government has
refused to hand over the NECI report to them. It seems that Mugabe told
cabinet ministers that the report should not be made public, and ordered
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to advise the committee to halt further
investigations into Zisco operations.

The parliamentary committee has now compiled its report, and has given
government an ultimatum to put the NECI report on the record and publish it,
or they will leak to the press the version they have obtained. Parliament
has now started impeachment proceedings against Obert Mpofu on charges that,
lying under oath, he gave false evidence to the committee. This will be the
first time that a government minister has been impeached by Parliament in
post-Independence Zimbabwe. He faces a fine, or up to 2 years in jail, or
both.

The committee also investigated the contract with GSHL, finding that "the
implementation of the contract was unplanned, improper, and highly
questionable". It found that the contract was awarded to GSHL out of 9
competing companies, without due diligence, and that the Zisco board was
unaware of the deal. It seems that the board's authority was usurped by
Mpofu's ministry - the Ministry for Industry and International Trade - which
signed the GSHL contract. The committee also found that GSHL has a history
of being on the receiving end of multi-billion US dollar lawsuits concerning
agreements in Nigeria and the USA, where the company had entered into
contracts which it had failed to honour.

Gross abuse of public assets at Zisco has been revealed, being perpetrated
in the following ways:

  a.. Claiming large allowances from the company after travelling on
business that had nothing to do with Zisco
  b.. Dubious contracts, where the bids were rigged
  c.. Over-pricing purchases, where the excess money would be split between
the arranging parties (at the Botswana subsidiaries, only one person handles
purchases - contrary to the fundamental principle of segregation of duties)
  d.. Claiming money for management fees and directors' meetings without
justification or following procedure
  e.. Taking cash for private use
  f.. Abuse of credit cards
  g.. Hotel bookings and entertainment allowances (thousands of US dollars
were spent entertaining government officials and their cronies at the Grand
Palm Hotel Casino & Convention Resort - a five star hotel in Gaborone -
where they squandered public funds on expensive drinks and food during
weekends)
The employees of Zisco and its two Botswana subsidiaries, Ramotswa and
Tswana Steel, have said they are ready to reveal the names of those
implicated in the looting. The Zimbabwe Independent has performed extensive
investigation into the matter, and revealed the names of the following
individuals who seem to have benefited in some way from dubious dealings:

  a.. Gabriel Masanga, the former Zisco group MD, had private expenditure
paid through the company, plus questionable vehicle expenses incurred in
Botswana
  b.. David Murangari received forex to pay for personal expenses
  c.. Samuel Mumbengegwi (Indigenisation and Empowerment minister & formerly
Industry and International Trade minister in charge of Zisco) - paid an
allowance of USD 3000 while attending a SADC meeting in Gaborone for himself
and two others; also paid accommodation for unexplained visits to Botswana
  d.. Joice Mujuru, who in 2003 was paid USD11 000 as allowances by the
Botswanan subsidiaries, and received 30 000 litres of fuel (liquid gold!)
from Zisco on her election as vice-president in 2004
  e.. Olivia Muchena (Science and Technology minister) - air tickets and
allowances for missions unconnected with Zisco
  f.. Sithembiso Nyoni (Small-to-Medium Enterprises Development minister) -
air tickets and allowances for missions unconnected with Zisco
  g.. Stan Mudenge (Higher Education minister), hosted by Zisco subsidiaries
in Botswana under unclear circumstances
  h.. · Late Gibson Munyoro (Zanu PF MP) - same as Mudenge
  i.. George Mlilo (Transport permanent secretary), incurred dubious
expenses for the company
  j.. George Chikumbirike, received dubious forex payments
  k.. Tirivanhu Mudariki (businessman and former Zanu MP) - air tickets,
allowances and accommodation for missions unconnected with Zisco
  l.. Numerous other individuals who were also on the receiving end of
dubious payments, or transactions
George Chikumbirike, listed above, was the lawyer representing the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission in Tsvangirai's legal challenge of the results of the
stolen 2002 Presidential Election. Zisco's Botswana subsidiaries paid him
USD1 225 in July 2003 as an allowance through a telegraphic transfer into
his ABC Botswana Bank Account (we trust that the Exchange Control
authorities are investigating this); he also received USD1 000 for school
fees in January 2004 from the Zisco Managing Director Masanga's company
facility.

Further shenanigans are apparent in the fact that the Ramotswa/Tswana Steel
MD and business manager, James Chininga and Shelton Chivhere, respectively,
are also trying to acquire those two companies themselves - both companies
are owed money by Zisco and have made a lot of payments on behalf of their
parent company. They claim that this is their own initiative but speculation
is rife that senior politicians are working behind the scenes.

For further proof of mismanagement, Zisco has also just had to surrender its
mining concessions to KFW, a German company, after failing to repay a USD
17.6 million loan advanced for the construction of its steel plant. This
debt was in addition to numerous others, including those due to the Chinese,
the NRZ, Zesa, and other local companies. And the latest news to hit the
press is that a Chinese company has made a USD 3 billion takeover bid for
Zisco, although that fact is being vociferously denied in some quarters.

The consequences
The questions of the release of the NECI report, and of the impeachment of
Obert Mpofu, have given rise to further rifts within Zanu PF (and here we
refer you to our earlier article "Is Zanu PF splitting up?"). The thieves
are falling out among themselves over the share of the booty each is to
receive, and those who are not actually complicit this time are making the
most of their good fortune, and advancing their own agendas in the
succession struggle by exposing guilty colleagues who are their rivals. And
there are the others who see Zanu PF tearing itself apart, and are
desperately trying to put a lid on the whole scandal.

Speaker John Nkomo is believed to be aligned to Vice President Joice Mujuru
(she with presidential aspirations) - they want the committee scuttled, and
the report swept under the carpet, Nkomo managing to hold in abeyance the
motion to impeach Obert Mpofu for as long as he could.

But the other side is striking back! Justice Minister Chinamasa is on the
side of rival presidential aspirant, Emmerson Mnangagwa. They are now
retaliating against Joice Mujuru, who is suspected of involvement in the
attempted prosecutions of Mutasa and Chinamasa. Chinamasa managed to adjourn
parliament for some weeks, aiming to buy time to restore discipline within
the ruling party. Mnangagwa and Chinamasa both want the report to be
published and the wrong-doers to be exposed, and need time to swing things
to their advantage.

On the subject of the impeachment, Obert Mpofu is to be taken to the
Parliamentary Privileges Committee. The last person to appear before that
committee was Roy Bennett - will Mpofu get the same treatment as he did, and
will we see him clothed in Zimbabwe Prison uniform for 8 months, we wonder?
One would expect parliamentarians to regard the deliberate misleading of the
House as about the most serious offence imaginable.

Sadly, past experience has led us to believe that the regime's commitment to
fighting corruption will falter before the drastic step of a truthful public
exposé of the facts, and the prosecution of offenders. If the result of any
investigation is any less than this, it will be an irrefutable declaration
by Mugabe and his regime that they are not committed to transparency, to
justice, or to the fight against corruption.

Zanu PF has been involved in the rape, pillage and plunder of the assets of
this country for 26 years; as we see from the list above, high level people
have been involved in the plunder. They think they can get away with it
because they've managed to do so for so long. We need to let them know that
they can't - and we praise those journalists who have been, and continue to
be involved in this exposé.

But there will come a day of reckoning; there will come a day when what is
done in the darkness will be brought to light!

It is time for all Zimbabweans who care, to say "SOKWANELE!" "ZVAKWANA!" -
demanding full accountability, and insisting that the perpetrators of this
massive fraud be brought to justice. It is the patriotic duty of any who can
assist this process to make their contribution now, failing which, we are on
the way to joining such totally failed states as the DRC, Darfur, Somalia,
Sierra Leone et al.

Zimbabwe proves Kirkpatrick right

Baltimore Sun

By James Kirchick
Originally published December 14, 2006
WASHINGTON // Prompted by the death last week of former United Nations
Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, I looked up her essay from the November
1979 issue of Commentary magazine, "Dictatorships and Double Standards."
Ms. Kirkpatrick, then a Democrat, excoriated the Carter administration for
applying a double standard in its treatment of right-wing and Communist
dictatorships. The former, she argued, can eventually be coaxed into
democratization (or at least made amenable to United States interests),
whereas the latter, with their all-encompassing, revolutionary ideas of
upending society and the very nature of humanity, are "unlikely to lead to
anything but totalitarian tyranny."

Ms. Kirkpatrick's thesis was a useful framework for thinking about U.S.
foreign policy in the Cold War, and with rare exception it proved right. Yet
just because the Cold War is over does not mean that "Dictatorships and
Double Standards" ought to be thrown into the dustbin of history along with
Marxism-Leninism. A glaring example of its rightness remains today in the
form of a blight on the world community: Zimbabwe, where I ventured on a
journalistic assignment in August. In 1980, not long after Ms. Kirkpatrick's
essay appeared, Zimbabwe transformed from a right-wing, authoritarian regime
into a left-wing, totalitarian one.

Before the ascension of Robert G. Mugabe as prime minister in 1980, a small,
white elite ruled the country - then called Rhodesia - in an arrangement
similar to that of apartheid South Africa. Mr. Mugabe, an ardent Maoist,
launched a successful civil war against the white regime, eventually
bringing it to the negotiating table. Many in the West hailed Mr. Mugabe as
a new kind of African leader, one who held much promise.

But only two years into his rule, Mr. Mugabe showed inklings of the
totalitarian despot that he would come to epitomize. Between 1982 and 1987,
he massacred about 20,000 Ndebele people in the southern region of the
country. This massacre has been long forgotten and ignored because it was
black-on-black violence. Only when Mr. Mugabe recently went after Zimbabwe's
white population, purging productive farmers off their land and forcefully
redistributing it to political hacks, did the Western media begin to make
him out to be a great international rogue like Hugo Chavez.

Regardless, the radical redistribution of land has had dire consequences for
Zimbabwe. Once a major exporter of agricultural products, Zimbabwe has
descended into freefall with the world's highest inflation rate (more than
1,000 percent annually), oil and food shortages and increasing political
violence.

Although not an explicitly communist regime like Cuba, Mr. Mugabe's Zimbabwe
is nonetheless a left-wing dictatorship guided by revolutionary principles.
Ms. Kirkpatrick, in her 1979 essay, wrote that such regimes "create refugees
by the millions because they claim jurisdiction over the whole life of the
society and make demands for change that so violate internalized values and
habits that inhabitants flee by the tens of thousands." Not tens of
thousands but as many as 3 million Zimbabweans (of a population of 12.2
million) have fled the country since the implementation of the land reforms.
Ms. Kirkpatrick, in her essay, noted that "more than five times as many
refugees have fled Guinea and Guinea Bissau [then-left-wing dictatorships]
as have left Zimbabwe Rhodesia, suggesting that civil war and racial
discrimination are easier for most people to bear than Marxist-style
liberation."

That Africans would prefer a regime based on race discrimination to one
based on Marxism may be hard for us in the West to accept, but if people
"vote with their feet," there has been no better confirmation of Ms.
Kirkpatrick's thesis than the case of Zimbabwe.

How else does the trajectory of Zimbabwe validate Ms. Kirkpatrick? Hardly an
enthusiast for right-wing authoritarians, she wrote, "traditional autocrats
tolerate social inequities, brutality, and poverty while revolutionary
autocracies create them." This has certainly been the case of
Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, where under the white supremacist government social
inequities, brutality and poverty existed - but under Mr. Mugabe, they have
reached catastrophic levels.

White Rhodesia was a morally unjust regime whose governing ethos (white
privilege) was indefensible on any grounds. But Mr. Mugabe's ethos of
governing - the personal enrichment of one man and a radical
land-redistribution policy that has left millions starving - is no more
justifiable than white racism. In Rhodesia, the government did not massacre
civilians by the thousands; the black majority was not starving to death,
nor was it digging in the ground for mice as a basic form of sustenance (a
widespread practice that I witnessed less than 10 miles from Mr. Mugabe's
presidential mansion).

A willingness to support anything in opposition to an unjust political
system - especially when the alternative has the distinct possibility of
being far worse - is an impulse that we would do well to guard against. That
is the lesson of Zimbabwe, and the sage observance of a woman schooled in
the ugly realities of the modern world.

James Kirchick is assistant to the editor in chief of The New Republic. His
e-mail is james.kirchick@gmail.com.

Makwavarara Commission illegal..CHRA

      The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has strongly rejected
the extension the tenure of the commission running the affairs of Harare.

      Yesterday, Wednesday 13 December, a spokesperson of the Ministry of
Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development announced that Minister
Chombo had extended the tenure of the commission running the Harare city led
by Ms Sekesayi Makwavarara. This comes at a time when residents are
disgruntled and dissatisfied with the council's service delivery.

      The commission has been running the city to the ground since December
2004 after its appointment by the Government to temporarily run the city's
affairs. Harare's reputation as the sunshine city has been compromised by
the puppet commission which has neglected its delivery system and has also
been dogged with allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

      The Catalyst caught up with Mr. Mike Davies, the CHRA chairperson to
get a brief comment on the situation and the position of the residents. Mr.
Davies pointed out that the extension was illegal and against the dictates
of the Urban Council's Act which gives citizens the right to elect their own
leaders.

      Davies went on to say that the extension is merely a political
maneuver by the government at the expense of residents and service delivery.
He called on residents to resist the infringement of their rights through
demonstrations which will send a clear message to the regime.

      Asked what the association would do in response, the Chairperson
pointed out that the only way to resolve the crisis would be through
disobedience and demonstrations. CHRA has appealed to the government and
parliament through petitions with no response. They also appealed to the
judiciary in June 2005 to no avail considering the polarized nature of the
system and their collaboration with the regime. The state has clearly shown
that they cannot be trusted to solve grievances.

      Mr. Davies clearly distinguished between a government and a regime
pointing out that Zimbabwe is being run by a regime which seizes power
through electoral fraud, subversion of laws and use of violence against its
citizens.

      Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is a conglomeration of civil society
organizations whose vision is a democratic Zimbabwe. Contact: P.O Box CY
434, Causeway, Harare; Telefax: + 263 4 788 135

      Email: info@crisis.co.zw Website: www.crisiszimbabwe.org
      It is our view as Crisis Coalition that the government should give
back to the people their right to elect their council and not have one
imposed upon them by an illegitimate government. The exit of Makwavarara and
her band wagon of servants is long overdue and the people must stand up and
claim their rights.

Cleric blasts Mugabe for shielding Mengistu

IOL

          December 14 2006 at 03:18PM

      Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday drew
trenchant criticism from an arch-foe for shielding former Ethiopian dictator
Mengistu Haile Mariam who has been found guilty of genocide.

      "Mugabe is using the taxpayers' money to keep a dictator who killed a
million people," Pius Ncube, archbishop of Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo,
told a news conference.

      "Mengistu allowed one million people to die by refusing to let western
humanitarian workers to come in and help fight starvation. He did it to save
the government's face," Ncube said.

      "You can see what kind of friends (Mugabe) keeps," he said, adding:
"You need one dictator to prop up another."

      Zimbabwe has ruled out extraditing Mengistu, who on Tuesday was found
guilty by an Ethiopian court of genocide for atrocities committed under his
Marxist regime following a 12-year trial.

      Mengistu, who was ousted in 1991 and took exile in Zimbabwe, faces the
death penalty.

      The charges against Mengistu and his co-accused relate to atrocities
committed during the 1977-78 "Red Terror" period when tens of thousands of
people were killed or disappeared in his bid to turn Ethiopia into a
Soviet-style workers' state.

      He and his former top aides were also accused of the murders of
Ethiopia's emperor Haile Selassie, who claimed descent from the Queen of
Sheba. The emperor was toppled in a 1974 coup.

The fate of Africa: good or bad?

The Statesman, Ghana

14/12/2006

In his book, The Fate of Africa: A History of 50 Years of Independence,
published in 2005, Martin Meredith paints a pessimistic outlook of our
continent's future. Whilst not ignoring the new emphasis on democracy, and
attempts to overhaul the Organisation of African Unity - now the African
Union - Meredith considers problems with trade subsidies, dependence on
foreign aid, and debt, showing the continuing influence of "Big Men" and
"ruling elites".

He writes, "African governments and the vampire-like politicians who run
them are regarded by the populations they rule as yet another burden they
have to bear in the struggle for survival."

Meredith"s description may seem a bit far-fetched, but this week's
Zimbabwean response to the guilty of genocide verdict on former Ethiopian
dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam certainly gives some credence to his
analysis.

Ethiopia's brutal Marxist dictator, known as the African Pol Pot, was
president from 1977 until 1991 - when he fled to Zimbabwe and was granted
asylum. Mengistu became the first fallen leader to be found guilty yesterday
of genocide in his own country after a 12-year trial. During his "Red Terror'
campaign, families had to pay a tax known as "the wasted bullet" to obtain
the bodies of their loved ones. At the height of his power, Mengistu himself
frequently garrotted or shot dead opponents, saying that he was leading by
example. Between 1975 and 1978, about 1.5 million Ethiopians died in the
Derg genocide. The rebels were concentrated in the North of the country, and
in the early 1980s Mengistu, now famously, denied that there was famine in
the area. Around one million more Ethiopians died of starvation, and the
killings continued throughout the decade.

Even so, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe - who himself faces international
condemnation for human rights abuses - has this week refused to extradite
the former Ethiopian leader to face international justice. On Tuesday,
Mengistu was found guilty of genocide - alongside all but one of the 72
officials on trial with him. He could face the death penalty. 34 of those on
trial were present in the court, 14 have since died and 25, including
Mengistu, were tried in absentia.

Mugabe's display of solidarity between Africa's "Big Men", the big boys of
bullying government, is a chilling reminder of the "vampire-like"
governments which continue to thwart the spread of justice and democracy in
this continent.

This millennium started with the fate of six former African tyrants, all
accused of crimes against humanity, yet to be decided: Charles Taylor of
Liberia; Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia; Hissène Habré of Chad; Idi Amin
of Uganda; Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly
Zaire) and Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic (who was tried
and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988, but released in 1993).

The last four have since died, but, Taylor and Habré are both facing trial -
a sign of better times, it seems.

Yet without a firmer stance by the continental community to cooperate with
these trials - without the final breaking of the 'bully boy' club in which
Mugabe continues to hold up Mengistu and the African Union continues to
tip-toe around - those better times could still be a long way off.

The future of recent tyrants may become tougher as the globalisation of
justice begins to bite. There must be more use of the powers granted to the
International Criminal Court, and the decision to prosecute Habré in Senegal
underlines the fact that the new African Union has abandoned the doctrine of
non-interference.

Today, we call on the AU to be even firmer in this decision, and to stand
against Zimbabwe's stubborn stance not to hand over Mengistu to Ethiopia.
Big Man solidarity must be tolerated no longer. The principle that there
should be no haven for the ruthless must be adhered to by our leaders.

The fate of African dictators to date has been far from just. Idi Amin lived
the last 25 years of his life in comfortable exile, enjoying '"Bedouin
hospitality'' in Saudi Arabia. He died aged 78 in 2003, after living in
obscene comfort in Jidda, the Red Sea port. One observer posed the question:
Was it possible that a man who, in the 1970s, had ordered the deaths of
300,000 of his countrymen, raped and robbed his nation into endless misery,
and admitted to having eaten human flesh, was whiling away his time as a
guest of the Saudi government?

During the quarter-century of his soft exile, no nation tried to bring Mr
Amin to justice. A few years ago, after the Spanish government went after
Chile's former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, Human Rights Watch did bring up
Mr Amin's case to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights - but to no
avail. Mobuto also died in a short-lived Bedouin hospitality in Libya.

Elsewhere, however, the gates of justice and responsibility are already
beginning to close in - and Africa must look to this example. As well as the
International Criminal Court, national courts are also showing an increasing
willingness to hold individuals to account for abuses committed abroad. The
arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998 on a warrant from a
Spanish judge for crimes allegedly committed in Chile sent a message to
tyrants that they could not avoid justice by hiding behind walls of
impunity.

Mexico extradited the notorious Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel
Cavallo to Spain for alleged torture and ''disappearances'' during Argentina's
1976 to 1983 "dirty war."

And the arrest and trial of Saddam Hussein this year - and his sentence to
death by hanging - will go out as the ultimate signal to dictators around
the world that they can no longer escape the hands of justice.

Exile is becoming harder to find - and African leaders, and the African
Union, must work together to ensure it becomes harder still. The claws of
justice are closing in on Hissène Habré, the former dictator of Chad.
Nigeria's decision this year to release Charles Taylor for arrest is another
step in the right direction. The trial of the former Liberian president, who
faces 650 charges of war crimes and human rights abuses, is expected to
begin at the Hague in April next year.

It is unfortunate that Idi Amin died in his "tent" without being brought to
justice for his crimes, but the world is a smaller and smaller tent. One
day, the Idi Amins of this world will find they have nowhere to hide.

Gradually, the tide is beginning to turn against the world's dictators.
Africa has been slow in standing up to bring justice to our tyrants; now, it
is time for the African community and the African Union to begin fighting
for this, beginning with the extradition of Mengistu.

Low in cost, not quality

Tendai Chiramba, of the charity Practical Action, reports from a project in Zimbabwe trying to get poor families into low-cost homes

Thursday December 14, 2006
Guardian Unlimited


George and Sekai in front of their cabin.
 

It is difficult for people living in the UK to appreciate the harsh living conditions many of my fellow countrymen endure in Zimbabwe.

Overcrowding is a major issue in urban areas such as Mbare in Harare. I imagine rich, affluent countries would find it hard to believe how people live in some of our poorest suburbs.

Families have to live in crowded conditions and these are very difficult to escape. Many people are elderly or chronically sick, particularly with Aids and HIV, often leaving children orphaned and left to not only look after younger brothers and sisters, but to provide a home and an income. Families like the Moyo family are set to benefit from our effort. George Moyo, 54, is the head of a family of four children with no formal employment and feeds his family through vegetable vending. To worsen his situation, his wife, Sekai Shava, 45, is now disabled due to a snake bite suffered in 1999. George has to take her to Harare Hospital for treatment every month.

 

Gone are the days of free medical treatment, so George has to raise the money if his wife is to receive treatment. "Income from vegetable vending is barely enough to meet all the family's needs and I also have to raise school fees for one of my children," says George.

"I never dreamt that one day I will have a place to call home for my family and I am happy that I can move us into a completed house."

George and his family used to live out in the open before we introduced this project.

Helping people improve their own lives is what really excites me the most about Practical Action's work. It is great to now be on site and ready to get started.

As the technical officer, I will be working with the community as they prepare to start work to fulfill their dream of becoming house owners.

To get the project off the ground here in Mbare, together we will select a suitable space for housing and make earth bricks and doors using low-cost alternative materials.

At the end of this project, which is targeting Mbare in Harare, St Mary's in Chitungwiza, and Sakubva in Mutare, around 500 people will be the proud owners of stands or houses while housing space should have increased considerably.

The house is just one result of the project; skills such as producing earth bricks and tiles means these once vulnerable people have a real chance of employment and improving their lives now and in the future.

· Tendai Chiramba is a site technician for the Improving Access to Infrastructure Services project, for Practical Action in Southern Africa.

- All names have been changed

Deadly Infection Hits Zambezi Fish

SciDev.Net (London)

December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006

Moses Magadza
Windhoek

A deadly but as yet unidentified infection among fish in backwaters of the
Zambezi River has been detected, sparking fears that the disease could be
transmitted to humans.

The infection could affect up to four out of every five fish caught in some
parts of Africa's fourth largest river, which flows through eight southern
African countries and supports an estimated 40 million people.

Fishermen in Katima Mulilo, Namibia, began reporting serious sores on fish
in early October, according to Nyambe Nyambe, a Zambian environment and
development consultant to the government.

The infection causes blisters and sores, and eats away at the fins and tails
of multiple fish species -- notably breams, minnows and catfish -- 
eventually killing them, although the fatality rate is unknown. There are
fears that some villagers are eating infected fish.

"Some fish parasites can be transmitted to humans," said Christopher
Magadza, a fresh water specialist in Zimbabwe and former director of the
University of Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba Research Station. He added that they
can cause muscular cysts and intestinal worms.

"Fish must be cooked thoroughly, otherwise people might ingest fish
parasites, smoke drying does not kill the fish parasites," he told
SciDev.Net.

"There are reports that some people who ate some affected fish fell sick and
our officials are on the ground talking to medical staff who may have
treated these people," said Charles Maguswi, Zambia's director of fisheries.

He told SciDev.Net that the infestation was very serious, and called for
experts in all affected countries to share information about the issue.

Expert opinion is divided as to the nature, cause and extent of the
infestation, which could be caused by a parasite or bacteria. Samples of the
infected fish are being examined to comprehend the cause, extent and likely
consequences of the outbreak.

"It could be [caused by] a sudden arrival of migrant birds," Magadza
suggested.

"Extremely high temperatures can also cause the rapid development of fish
parasites, and this seems to be a very serious infestation, but the lack of
data on water temperature and fish deformities makes it difficult to read
the trends," he said.

Fishmongers reported that they have removed worm-like parasites from some of
the caught fish.

"I think this is a regional problem and we are thinking of a collaborative
effort in dealing with it," said Shaft Nengu, Botswana's deputy director of
fisheries.

The Zambezi River, which has its source in Zambia, is the largest river
flowing into the Indian Ocean and runs for 2,700 kilometres through Angola,
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Roadside puppy vendors!

This past week I have twice come across a puppy vendor at the corner of Lomagundi/Second St Extension.  This is illegal - it is cruel to the puppies (also to the dam who was suckling them).  If you come across this, please do NOT be tempted to buy, even to save the puppy.  Best if you have time is to stop and ask to look at the puppy (or other animal), then when it is inside your vehicle on your lap or whatever, drive away quickly and call ZNSPCA.  Good idea to keep their phone number in your vehicle or diary. Otherwise call ZNSPCA to report and ask them to assist.  If you can make a citizen's arrest on the vendor, even better, but that is difficult!

Below is the ZNSPCA Public Notice on this and other animals, birds and reptiles, and weblink to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.  Please pass this message on to others.

Thank you.
Trudy Stevenson MP

ZNSPCA
PUBLIC NOTICE
Please be advised that it is illegal to sell or buy tortoises,
guinea fowl or any indigenous animal, bird or reptile. If you see anyone hawking these animals, please DO NOT buy them as this serves to encourage this illegal  trade. Please report such people to National Parks and Wildlife or to ZNSPCA HQ tel: 497574 or 497885 or Harare SPCA 576355/6/7, 572127.

Vendors of rabbits, guinea pigs, puppies  etc. are likewise not to be encouraged as this is also illegal, being in contravention of the Prevention Cruelty to Animals Act, Chapter 19:09, 3(1)d.  Please report such people to  ZNSPCA HQ tel: 497574, 497885 or Harare SPCA 576355/6/7, 572127.

Thank you

Zanu PF conference: a conference of evil ideas

MDC INFORMATION & PUBLICITY

National Headquarters
Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940 489, 091 850 556 email :mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com
 

 
Starting today, Zanu PF’s zealots meet in Goromonzi for yet another muppet show disguised as a people’s conference while ordinary Zimbabweans continue to wallow in abject poverty and starvation.
 
Pronouncements by Zanu PF’s bigwigs show that they are far removed from the real concerns of the people. The regime’s fixation with extending Robert Mugabe’s term to 2010 shows that Zanu PF is mainly preoccupied with imposing itself on the people while the nation plunges deeper into an unmitigated crisis. Zanu PF and Mugabe have become a national liability and a burden to the people of Zimbabwe. In a classic manifestation of their satanic motives, they have chosen to ignore the haemorrage of the national economy, the acute shortage of foreign currency for critical imports, the governance crisis, the stratospheric inflation and the collapsing health and education systems. They have instead chosen to focus on manipulating the people and the defective Constitution to extend their tenure of looting national resources and raiding state coffers.
 
Goromonzi will definitely be another talk show. It will provide the Zanu PF elite with another perfect opportunity to feast while ordinary Zimbabweans face another season of starvation due to bungling, corruption and misgovernance. Goromonzi will be another platform for the regime’s top brass to heap their praises on Robert Mugabe whose term they have now decided to extend by another two years without the people’s mandate. Goromonzi has proved to be yet another monumental display of how Mugabe imposes his will on the people while pretending that the people are speaking.
 
Nothing at Goromonzi will improve the sordid lives of penury and deprivation for the lot of our people in Masvingo, Manicaland, Matabeleland, the Midlands and even Goromonzi itself. For the past nine years, the country has plunged deeper into crisis and these grand conferences have failed to alleviate the people’s misery. Instead they have been breeding platforms for the people’s misery and agony.
 
The MDC believes that these lavish congregations at the taxpayers’ expense will not mitigate the national crisis. Whether they meet in Goromonzi, in Umzingwane, in Rushinga, in Lupane or in Tsholotsho, no bolt of wisdom will ever strike the Zanu PF geriatrics because of evident bankruptcy. Ours is a crisis of governance that needs an urgent political solution.
 
The people are tired of lavish talk shows that have no bearing on their lives. The old men and women bussed from all over the country to these conferences are tired of going back home to face the stark reality of ever-increasing prices of basic commodities and a collapsed health delivery system. Even the Zanu PF delegates are tired of the annual temporary lives of affluence and lavish feasting only to go back home to live their ordinary lives of crushing poverty and starvation. Zanu PF must come out of cloud Cuckooland and admit to the people that they have failed.
 
The people want a new Zimbabwe. They want food and jobs. They want good governance, prosperity and freedom. Nothing will come between the people and their vision of a new Zimbabwe. The people are always winners.
 
The real conference that will be of significance to people’s lives is an All Stakeholders’ Conference being demanded by the people where a political solution should hammered out to resolve the national crisis. This includes a new, people-driven constitution, free and fair elections under international supervision, a reconstruction and stabilization programme in a post-transitional era.
 
 
Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity
 

Put an End to Outrageous Prices

The Herald (Harare)

December 14, 2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006

Harare

LAST week's installment on the rampant price increases conjured heated
debate with many emotions erupting as regards the flagrant disregard for the
welfare of the nation by some manufacturers and retailers.

Calls were made for Government to summon all its powers to deal decisively
with those in the corporate world who see nothing wrong in squeezing the
customer of the little in his pocket.

The situation has even worsened since last Thursday. Some products have gone
up by at least three times in six days and there seems to be no end to the
price spiral.

The announcement of a higher inflation figure of 1 098 percent for November,
which in itself means a further erosion of disposable incomes, saw many
retailers immediately changing their price stickers to take into account the
new figure while also cushioning themselves against expected future
inflation rises.

This attitude is in itself highly inflationary. The month-on-month figure of
30,1 percent was 2,6 percent higher than October. In fact, the full effects
of the sharp price increases experienced last month are still to manifest.

All this continues to add misery to the ordinary worker.

"For how long shall businesses get away with this?' asked one caller. Indeed
that's the million dollar question.

In the absence of a proper pricing formula, we expect producers and
retailers to act in a more mature manner.

Of course as stated last week, we appreciate the challenges that the firms
are going through but we repeat that this does not justify the wild price
increases the nation is being subjected to.

As a matter of urgency, we call upon Government, through the relevant
ministries and other arms, to engage producers to find a solution to the
price war.

The impending establishment of the National Prices and Incomes Commission is
long overdue but that, in itself, may not bring an immediate relief to
ordinary Zimbabweans who have found the going getting tougher.

There is need for more practical and immediate interventions.

The Poverty Datum Line for November went up to $228 million against average
incomes of $50 000 for the low-income bracket, according to statistics
released by the Central Statistical Office.

Under such circumstances, even the new tax-free threshold that comes into
effect on January 1 may not produce the effect originally desired.

The benefits accruing from this have been wiped before the measures have
been implemented.

More measures will thus need to be put in place to bring relief to the
worker.

A survey concluded last week saw retailers reporting that business had so
far been uncharacteristically low compared to other years. Of course that
was to be expected. How do they expect one to buy clothes for Christmas when
what is in the pocket is hardly enough to assure their family of a decent
meal on Christmas day.

How can one be expected to splash money on Christmas goodies when just one
or two items in the basket will clean him of every cent he's got.

Simple economics would demand price stability to induce demand hence
increased volumes, which will ultimately lead to profitability.

We have also witnessed in recent weeks, the disappearance of commodities
such as fresh milk and cooking oil from the shops.

But these are found in unlimited quantities on the parallel market where
they sell at exorbitant prices. Who is feeding that market with the
products?

The whole goods availability and pricing matrix is upside down.

France says finding too many Chinese arms in Africa

Reuters

Thu 14 Dec 2006 16:15:33 GMT
PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - France's defence minister said on Thursday too
many Chinese weapons were turning up in Africa, at a time when the Asian
giant is forging alliances with many states on the world's poorest
continent.

Chinese business has piled into Africa, focusing primarily on oil, metals
and other commodities sectors, and Beijing has assured African leaders it
wants to develop a "win-win" relationship with the continent.

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the upper house of
France's parliament, however, that there was a more sinister side to what
she said was Beijing's effort to gain a share of mineral wealth and win
political influence.

"It does not bother us that a big country comes to help Africa's
development, which needs it and it is essential, provided that it happens in
clear conditions and conditions that encourage the development of
democracy," she said.

"We therefore draw its attention to the fact that too often we see Chinese
arms intervening in conditions that are sometimes contrary to embargoes,"
she said.

Chad, which accuses neighbour Sudan of arming Chadian rebels opposed to
President Idriss Deby, in April displayed Chinese munitions it said had been
captured from insurgents who raided the capital in that month.

China is a major provider of aid and investment in Sudan, especially in the
growing Sudanese oil sector.

Alliot-Marie said China was now Africa's second-biggest trade partner after
France.

China has also emerged as an important source of aid and diplomatic support
for countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe which the West strongly criticises for
human rights violations.

Beijing is among the new breed of fast-growing powers that have come under
fire at international meetings for lending money to impoverished nations in
Africa at market rates, even as rich countries have been cancelling debt
they are owed.

Another Africa By WILF MBANGA

The Zimbabwean

BY WILF MBANGA

'We need to view Africa in a spirit of positive resolution, building on its
considerable strength rather than wringing our hands in despair' - Lord
Holme

'The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong' -
Ecclesiastes

Once upon a time there were two friends - Tsuro (hare) and Kamba (tortoise).
They decided to have a race. Tsuro knew that he would win because he had a
great advantage over Kamba - who had very short legs and a heavy shell to
carry.

One sunny day the race began - and all the creatures of the forest gathered
to watch.  As soon as the whistle blew, Tsuro raced off leaving Kamba in a
cloud of dust.  After a mile or so Tsuro saw that Kamba was far behind, so
he decided to take a rest.  He went to a nearby pool and had a nice cool
swim and a drink. Just as he had finished, Kamba came up behind him. Tsuro
took off again.  Kamba plodded onwards. Once he was ahead again, Tsuro
decided to stop for a snack and to sunbathe a little.  Kamba plodded on.
Just as he caught up again, off went Tsuro. This continued all day.  Late in
the afternoon, Tsuro lay down under a tree to take a nap.  The finishing
line was nearby and he was confident of victory. Kamba plodded onwards.  As
the sun was setting he passed Tsuro napping.  When Tsuro awoke, the shadows
were falling.  He leapt up and raced to the finish - just in time to see
Kamba plodding across the finishing line.  All the animals cheered.  Kamba's
perseverance had paid off. He had won the race.

The race is not over yet. Africa is the tortoise of our world - creeping
slowly toward progress, heavily burdened.  While the hare, the developed
world and even the developing world, races ahead swiftly on the wings of
industrial development and globalisation.  Today, perhaps more than ever,
most of us think of Africa as a place of suffering, corruption, hatred -
where millions die of disease and hunger, where democracy has failed and man's
inhumanity to man reaches appalling extremes.

But that is only one facet of the diamond that is Africa.  Truly Africa is
multi-faceted, full of fascination and mystery, complex and intricate.  It
is vital that a new approach be taken to the 'problems' of Africa. We must
begin to change the prevailing attitude of Afro-pessimism, in order to
dispel the clouds and get back to a realistic assessment of the real Africa.

Lord Holme said it eloquently in his recent address to the West and Southern
African business association's Annual General Meting:  "First of all there
is a depressing and annoying tendency on the part of the world in general
and the international media in particular to lump the whole continent
together as one generic entity.  This ignores the extraordinary diversity of
the vastly differing peoples and their cultures and the very different
stages of their political and democratic development."

A western television viewer can be forgiven for concluding that the entire
African government is misgoverned, and characterised by massacres,
internecine warfare, fear, failure and want. Concerning Africa, there is
universal gloom and doom.

We hear very little about the good news of growing democracy on the
continent, points of economic achievement, of social progress. There is a
new culture of tolerance and respect for human rights. The African Union now
has a human rights commission.  There is a renewed commitment to finding
answers to Africa's long-running crises.

I would like to encourage us all to look at Africa with a degree of
perspective.  Instead of measuring and lamenting how far short it falls of
modern ideals, let us take a moment to look back along the very long road it
has travelled.  I do not want to dwell on the evils of colonialism, because
they are now past and we must forge ahead.  However, a discussion such as
this would not be complete without a brief mention of the colonial legacy
and the effect it has had on modern-day African states.

Perhaps the most crucial aspect was the arbitrary drawing of boundaries,
which cut across age-old tribal borders, forcing people of different ethnic
backgrounds - and in same cases of different races such as the Arabs and the
Berbers - to became a nation. You will agree that this would have disastrous
effects if done in Europe.  Just imagine, for example, the complexities and
chaos that would result if, suddenly, a new country was created
incorporating part of Holland, part of Germany and part of France.  The
cultural, linguistic and other divisions are enormous - and that's what it
was like in Africa before colonialism.

In my own country for example, if I want to speak with a fellow Zimbabwean
from Matabeleland, we have to speak in English - otherwise we cannot
understand each other.  The colonial powers exploited the divisions for
their own purposes. And people wonder, today, why Africans always seem to be
killing each other.

Certainly there are problems. It would be foolish to deny that.  There is
widespread corruption, crime, bureaucracy, red tape, unfriendly customs and
taxation, poor enforcement of contracts and inadequate infrastructure.
These are the enemies of income investment and local enterprise alike.

All these problems stem from poor governance, and most of the African
countries need to keep, as Lord Holme says 'taking the medicine of democracy'.
And not just in the sense of free and fair elections but also of open
institutions, the rule of law and administrative transparency.

By and large, the people of Africa are ready for good, democratic
government. Like people everywhere - they value it when they have it and
they know damn well when they haven't. The people of Africa are incredibly
resilient.  They will put up with an enormous amount of suffering - but they
know what they want and one day they will get it.

An encouraging start has been made.  One only has to look at countries like
Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda - which have been military dictatorships for a
generation and more - yet they have clawed their way back to democracy.
South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia - the list is growing of those
countries which can claim to be relatively, and increasingly, democratic.
Contrary to the African stereotype of oppression of women, some countries
have made significant advances in the field of gender empowerment.

Liberia recently elected Africa's first woman president.  South Africa has a
woman vice president and so does my own country, Zimbabwe.  Nigeria's female
minister of finance is highly respected internationally - not just a pretty
face for cosmetic purposes.

Many civic society groups are headed by bright, highly educated, women.  And
we all know damn well that when women get behind an organisation, things
move.

Several African countries have signed up to Nepad - the new initiative
spearheaded by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki. This entails a
voluntary submission to peer review.  Nepad is not without its own
problems - but it is founded on noble principles and is a step in the right
direction.

I think it would be appropriate at this juncture to address the spirit of
Africa - I use the word spirit to embrace where we have come from, what has
formed us and what motivates us. Once again, it is important to resist the
temptation to generalise.  But in the limited time available to us here
today, we of course can do no more that paint a very general picture with
very broad brush strokes.  Having qualified my comments with that let me say
that we Africans are by and large a sunny-natured people. We are gregarious,
warm-hearted, generous, friendly and kind.

God smiled on Africa - he gave it a warm sun and a warm heart - I am sure
anyone who has visited there will testify to this. He also made it
incredibly beautiful - with tropical forests, mighty rivers, huge expanses
of grassland where countless herds of magnificent beasts roam free, as well
as mountains and deserts. From snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro to the
shimmering Namib desert, Africa has everything. Golden beaches ring its
shores from Cape Town all the way up to Somalia. Above all, God gave Africa
treasures below the earth. Gold, silver, tin, iron, nickel, diamonds,
uranium, platinum - even oil.  Africa has it. Little wonder the colonialists
coveted it.

Despite these riches, people are the most important thing for us. The family
unit is terribly important in all African cultures.  We have not yet
abandoned the community and replaced it with the modular family unit as the
western world has.  Old people in Africa are highly respected and cared for
within the bosom of the community until they die.

We don't have old-age homes in Africa where they are shunted off to die
alone.

Similarly with un-planned babies and orphans - they are absorbed seamlessly
into the community, loved and fed by the extended family at large.  Not
dumped in institutions.

The western world has the internet - a wonderful thing indeed. You also have
television - the opium of your children.  Western children spend hours every
day in front of the television - being entertained.