Mugabe suspends top law officer in Zimbabwe over fugitive banker's case

International Herald Tribune

The Associated PressPublished: December 15, 2007

HARARE, Zimbabwe: President Robert Mugabe suspended the attorney general and
appointed a three-member tribunal to investigate allegations that the
state's highest law officer abused his powers, the official media reported
Saturday.

Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was arrested and charged with misconduct in the case of
a fugitive banker on Nov. 8 but returned to work a few days after his
release from police questioning.

Misheck Sibanda, secretary to Mugabe's cabinet, said Gula-Ndebele was
formally suspended with effect Friday. He named Judge Chinembiri Bhunu as
head of the tribunal.

"After its inquiry, the tribunal will make its recommendations to President
Mugabe on whether Mr. Gula-Ndebele should remain as the country's attorney
general," Sibanda said in an official announcement, the state Herald
newspaper reported.

At the time of Gula-Ndebele's arrest in November it was alleged he assured
banker James Mushore he would not be prosecuted on accusations of hard
currency offenses if he returned from self-imposed exile in Britain. He met
secretly with Mushore in a restaurant in Zimbabwe in September without
informing authorities that the fugitive was back in the country.

Mushore was one of the nation's most high-profile fugitives and had been on
the police wanted list since 2004. He was arrested in Harare on Oct. 24 and
was charged with violating hard currency exchange regulations through his
National Merchant Bank in Harare in 2004.
Mushore, freed on bail after several days in jail, is awaiting trial on the
alleged currency violations.

Several top bankers and corporate executives have fled during the worst
economic crisis since independence in 1980, most accused of currency
offenses. Some say they fled currency and other charges they said were
engineered to silence their criticism of the government's economic policies
that led to acute shortages of food, gasoline and most basic goods.

A single U.S. dollar fetches a record 2 million Zimbabwe dollars on the
illegal black market and few transactions are done at the official exchange
rate of 30,000 Zimbabwe dollars to US$1.

Even the central bank has acknowledged buying hard currency at black market
rates to help pay for the nation's gasoline and power imports.

While he has not been openly critical of the government, Gula-Ndebele has
refused to approve some politically related state prosecutions.

Central bank governor Gideon Gono, addressing the closing session of the
ruling party's annual convention on Friday, alleged that ruling-party
leaders and senior government officials were among "cash barons" fueling
black-market racketeering that caused acute shortages of local currency
ahead of the holiday season.

Several banks in Harare were closed Saturday saying they had no cash for
withdrawals and long lines snaked from automated teller machines programmed
to dispense just 5 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$2.50; €1.70) to each
customer — about enough to buy a scarce take-out hamburger.

Mugabe seems as ensconced as ever

Los Angeles Times

The 83-year-old Zimbabwean leader is put forward by his party to run again
for the presidency, despite a shattered economy.
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 15, 2007
HARARE, ZIMBABWE -- The two stuffed lions flanked Robert Mugabe like a
couple of eczema- ridden dogs, but the Zimbabwean president seemed delighted
by the effect.

"Are you afraid?" he taunted foreign journalists after his party's
resounding victory in 2005 parliamentary elections. Asked when he would
retire, Mugabe vowed to stay until he was 100, a comment most mistook for a
joke.

Today, few in Zimbabwe are laughing. Twenty-seven years after Mugabe came to
power as a war hero in the triumphant uprising against white minority rule,
the nation's economic collapse is worse than that of any country not now at
war. One of the most prosperous countries in Africa has turned beggar,
unable to feed its own people or find foreign currency for basics.

Yet on Thursday, the party congress of the ruling ZANU-PF endorsed the
83-year-old to run in next year's presidential election, in effect giving
him five more years in office in this country where elections are criticized
as flawed -- and putting him ever closer to that 100-year mark.

Anger in Zimbabwe about Mugabe's mismanagement is so universal that it is
difficult to find anyone who wants him to stay.

Nonetheless, his hold on the country, and the African continent, appears
unshakable.

As an economic catastrophe of epic proportions quietly unfolds in Zimbabwe,
Mugabe has destroyed rivals, rewarded loyalists, manipulated elections,
crushed most of the independent media and used violence to maintain power.
He has handed out lands seized from white farmers to his cronies.

Western sanctions targeting Mugabe and the ruling party elite have been
ineffective, while for the most part, African leaders have simply looked
away.

Liberation war veteran Fixon Ncube, who counts himself among Mugabe's core
supporters, said few in the ruling party cared to question the president:
"He's got authority. It's on very few occasions that you hear people
challenging him. He manages to sell his ideas to us, and we usually take his
ideas as they come.

"Our president says, 'We'll take the land,' and he does it. He takes it from
the white people and gives it to the black people. He says he'll slash
prices and he does it. Whatever he says, he does it."

Larger than life

Part archetypal African "big man" and part imperious intellectual, Mugabe
uses words like a fire-eater exhaling flames, relishing the vitriol he spits
at enemies, who include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair ("A
headmaster, old-fashioned, who dictates that things must be done his way"),
President Bush ("His hands drip with the innocent blood of many
nationalities"), former U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell ("I can't even
spell the word Dell with 'D' but an 'H' and that is where Dell should go")
and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ("He runs to the British with a
wagging tail").

His stinging rhetoric aimed at what he sees as Western racist arrogance and
colonialism's legacy resonates powerfully in Africa. Mugabe is so popular on
the continent (outside his own country) that he is feted and cheered
wherever he goes. Leaders across Africa have been largely silent about his
human rights abuses, while the "quiet diplomacy" of South African President
Thabo Mbeki is seen by many Zimbabweans as a betrayal. Mbeki has studiously
avoided criticizing Zimbabwean human rights abuses, preferring the
diplomatic approach, which has yielded little.

Inside Zimbabwe, the population doesn't turn out spontaneously to cheer
Mugabe, so people are forced to. Some mornings, when traders arrive at the
Mupedzanhamo market here in Harare, the capital, they find the gates locked
and a fleet of buses waiting. A few of the traders scuttle away; others
climb onboard reluctantly.

They know what it means: Mugabe is about to address a rally, or is arriving
by plane from overseas, and they are being press-ganged by the ruling party
as a Potemkin audience of "supporters."

"They tell you if you don't go, you can lose your [market] table and you
will have nowhere to sell your goods. If he's coming from overseas, they
take us to the airport at 8 o'clock and we have to spend the whole day
there. Each group has a commander to get you to cheer and sing," said one
trader, who was too terrified of reprisals to give even his first name.

Mugabe, surrounded by a coterie of sycophants, is increasingly isolated and
sees only the staged hysteria engineered by cronies when he goes out in
public.

"I don't think he understands how unpopular he is," said Mugabe's former
right-hand man, Jonathan Moyo, whom the president fired as information
minister in 2005. "It's a typical dictator who overstays and loses all sense
of proportion and can't understand what's happening on the ground and who
thinks that there's no way his policies can fail."

Desperate to please

He may not be loved, but Mugabe is a brilliant political manipulator who has
directed his intellectual energy at destroying any threat. Many top party
figures are privately unhappy about the president, and two ZANU-PF factions
are jostling with increasing acrimony over the succession.

A war veteran associated with one of the factions, who asked to remain
anonymous, said Mugabe maintained his support because without a clear
successor, there would be chaos and even civil war were anyone to challenge
him. He added that both camps could muster military support: "As the
situation is, there's no one to replace him. If Mugabe steps down, everybody
will want to be president. What will happen is there will be a civil war.

"Let him finish his nonsense. Let him finish what he started."

Bornwell Chakaodza, the former editor of the state mouthpiece the Herald,
said even Cabinet ministers admit in private that Mugabe's policies are
disastrous.

"If you meet any of the Cabinet ministers one on one, they all see the
problems. You say, 'Don't you see this?' and 'Don't you see that?' They say,
'Yes, we do.' But the problem is that all of them seem to be afraid of the
leader."

Mugabe's ministers are so desperate to please that when he made a speech in
the border town of Beitbridge last year, one of them hurried off to have it
made into a song. Mugabe's booming voice has been getting relentless airplay
in a snappy pop song by a performer known as Nonsi. Mugabe's voice declares:
"Forward with developing Beitbridge. . . . We are committed to the
development of Beitbridge."

The 26-year-old artist, whose real name is Tendai Masunda, adores Mugabe and
has written similar "motivational" songs for the ruling party.

"I see [Mugabe] as a father figure, and he does inspire me because he's done
a lot for this country," Masunda, who is married to a government official,
said in a phone interview. "Imagine if you have your dad and people say
negative things about him. I think he's a good man."

Mugabe was born at a Jesuit mission station in what was then white-ruled
Rhodesia. A lone bookworm in childhood, he has seven academic degrees,
including one in economics. A lean, severe figure, he reportedly rises early
for exercises. He drinks tea by the gallon and shuns alcohol.

He was arrested during the liberation struggle against the white minority
government of Ian Smith and spent a decade in jail, where he was refused
permission to go to the funeral of his 4-year-old son. Mugabe became an
iconic African hero when he signed the 1979 Lancaster House agreement in
London that led to independence, going on to win 1980 elections in what
became Zimbabwe.

Early in his term, Mugabe achieved much in terms of improving the
population's education and health, but those sectors are now in crisis,
thanks to the economic collapse.

Some argue that from the outset, Mugabe was wedded to violence and terror.
In the 1980s, Mugabe set the North Korean-trained crack military troops
known as the Fifth Brigade on political opponents associated with a rival
guerrilla movement. The operation was whimsically named "Gukurahundi," or
"the wind that blows away the chaff before the spring rains." There is no
accurate death toll, but estimates run as high as 20,000. Years later,
Mugabe famously boasted of having "a degree in violence."

In March this year, Mugabe faced international censure after hundreds of
opposition members, including Tsvangirai, were savagely beaten by police.
Unbowed, he told Western critics, "Go hang." The coalition known as the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum reported that 2007 has been the worst year
of human rights violations since 2000, when white farms were violently
seized.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted a recent African-European
Union summit because Mugabe was invited. The Lisbon summit went ahead
without Brown, and Mugabe triumphantly claimed victory over the British. The
main criticism of Mugabe at the meeting came from German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, later attacked in Zimbabwe's state media as a fascist and racist.

Stifling of ideas

Mugabe trusts few people and keeps most Cabinet colleagues at a distance. He
has a small clique with whom he sips tea by the hour, including the local
government minister, Ignatius Chombo, who is charged with building a vast
shrine dedicated to the president's life.

Theories abound to explain the Mugabe mystery. Some say he lost his way
after the death of his first wife, Sally, who supposedly curbed his
excesses. (He's now married to his former secretary, Grace, 40 years his
junior and known for her love of shopping.) Others suggest it's all to do
with jealousy of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who outshone
him internationally.

Some, such as Chakaodza, the former Herald editor, argue that Mugabe soured
when the first real political threat emerged with the appearance of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change in 1999. Mugabe lost a 2000
constitutional referendum and came close to losing the presidential election
in 2002.

After that, he grew bitter.

"He saw whites, especially farmers, the opposition, the independent media
and the international community as part of a conspiracy against ZANU-PF,"
Chakaodza said.

Martin Meredith, author of the biography "Mugabe: Power, Plunder and the
Struggle for Zimbabwe," argues that Mugabe is content to let Zimbabwe's
economy sink because the country and people are not of great importance to
him.

"Mugabe has a singular belief, and it is to hold on to power," he said. "You
could attribute the catastrophic state of the economy almost single-handedly
to Mugabe and his stupidity."

Former allies such as Chakaodza and Moyo say the stifling of debate and
ideas by Mugabe has caused the ruling party to atrophy. It has become so
paralyzed and inward-looking that it has no hope of grappling with
Zimbabwe's crisis, they contend. And the opposition has little hope of
stepping forward because, infiltrated by Mugabe's secret police, it split
acrimoniously in 2005, and efforts to re-unite have so far failed.

Moyo argues that because Mugabe has so weakened the culture of ideas in the
ruling party, ZANU-PF will die with him.

"There will be absolute confusion and chaos. The fate of the party is now
linked with him. It can't survive him. He's become the party. He's become
the state."

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Zimbabwe Opposition Contests Mugabe Prediction Of 'Resounding' Poll Win

VOA

By Patience Rusere
15 December 2007

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, now officially the candidate for the
country's ruling party elections due in 2008, has promised loyalists a
"resounding" victory, but a senior opposition official said Saturday that
"they are in for the shock of their lives."

Speaking late Friday at the end of an extraordinary congress of his Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front, Mr. Mugabe warned loyalists against
complacency but predicted “resounding” victory in elections he insists will
be held in March.

"We want a resounding victory which (British Prime Minister Gordon) Brown
and (U.S. President George) Bush will take  note of," Mr. Mugabe told the
party congress.

Thanking ZANU-PF delegates for nominating him as candidate for re-election,
he told them“we will win, obviously, but the question is by what margin.”
President Mugabe in answer to his own question specified victory “by 100
percent or even 105 percent."

He said keeping power would require “unity of purpose," something at times
lacking at the congress where senior party officials publicly wrangled with
liberation war veteran leader Jabulani Sibanda over his right to praise Mr.
Mugabe from the podium. The president was obliged to intervene, imposing
party discipline on Sibanda.

Responding Saturday to Mr. Mugabe's projections, policy coordinator Eddie
Cross of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change grouping of MDC
founder Morgan Tsvangirai, said the electorate will massively reject Mr.
Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

"They are in for the shock of their lives," Cross told reporter Patience
Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe, referring to Mr. Mugabe and his
ruling party.

Though the Tsvangirai MDC faction has voiced dissatisfaction with the crisis
resolution process launched by the Southern African Development Community
and mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, Cross said Mr. Mugabe
and ZANU-PF are too deeply enmeshed in that process to entirely block
electoral and democratic reform.

"I think that SADC and Thabo Mbeki are going to deliver real changes in
Zimbabwe and I think under those circumstances, ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe
are basically finished politically," Cross said. He said Mr. Mugabe "has
been our biggest asset this past year" amid a continuing economic meltdown,
and if SADC imposes "reasonable conditions" the opposition has an
"overwhelming chance" of winning the elections.

HR group doubts free and fair elections possible in Zim

The Zimbabwean

 Saturday, 15 December 2007 13:20

By Chief Reporter
HARARE - A fresh report by a group of human rights physicians says the
Zimbabwean government has brutally sought to suppress political opposition
with state-sponsored torture and political violence, and doubted that the
2008 general elections polls would be free and fair.

  The report, titled “We Have Degrees in Violence : A Report on Torture and
Human Rights Abuses in Zimbabwe” released Tuesday, documents how victims of
political violence have been tortured and subjected to other human rights
abuses causing devastating health consequences.
The report notes that the upsurge in political violence occurred following a
peaceful prayer rally organized on March 11 by a coalition of Zimbabwean
church and civic organizations.
The investigation, the first conducted by international health professionals
since the March 11 crackdown, provides fresh evidence that the Zimbabwean
government is systematically utilizing torture and violence as a means of
deterring political opposition.
“This state-sanctioned violence targets low-level political organizers and
ordinary citizens, in addition to prominent members of the political
opposition,” says the report.
The group of human rights doctors says the government is overwhelmingly
responsible for the terror.
Junior Information minister Bright Matonga dismissed the report as a
“figment of the doctors’ imagination.”
The report comes as negotiators in inter-party talks between Mugabe’s ruling
Zanu (PF) party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
aimed at defusing tension in the country reaches a stalemate over the ruling
party’s apparent reluctance to put a lid to the escalating State-sponsored
repression
The report says terror and torture are some of tools which are key to Mugabe’s
campaign to win the March 2008 joint presidential, parliamentary and
municipal elections, where he is likely to face a strong challenge from the
main opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
“The findings raise profound concerns as to whether elections scheduled for
2008 will be free and fair,” says the report.
It reports victims being detained under inhuman conditions and denied
appropriate access to medical and legal assistance.
“Members of civil society, including doctors and lawyers assisting victims
of political violence, also described being subjected to harassment by
government authorities,” says the report.
It says much of the violence was carried out by State security agents,
members of the Central Intelligence Organisation, military intelligence,
youths from the ruling Zanu (PF) party and war veterans.
The physicians added that politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe is
widespread and increasing on a daily basis.
It says the government was responsible for all the cases it studied and the
violence was carried out in a way that clearly indicated planning and
strategy.

A bogus election will produce illegitimate leaders - NCA

zimbabwejournalists.com

15th Dec 2007 00:48 GMT

By NCA

HARARE - The National Constitutional Assembly is alarmed by the behaviour
being demonstrated by Zimbabwe ’s two political rival parties and the SADC
mediators over the agreements on the ongoing political mediations.

In the next few days Zimbabwe ’s ruling ZANU PF and opposition MDC will be
signing a draft constitutional bill that among other things will be used in
the forthcoming elections whose dates are yet to be confirmed.

The MDC, which is an alliance partner of the NCA, has already hinted that it
will agree on the draft constitution as it says it was part of the making of
the dubious draft constitution.

The NCA remain committed to a constitutional making process were all
citizens can freely participate. The NCA and the entire Zimbabwean populace
will not agree on any constitution imposed on them by political parties
whose only interest is to obtain political power.

As the NCA we believe that Zimbabwe is bigger than MDC and ZANU PF and we
are of the opinion that the current crisis is beyond the political impasse
between these two political formations. We understand that the crisis that
we are currently facing will need an all inclusive process of constitutional
making.

We believe that we cannot entrust the future of our nation to Zanu Pf and
MDC.The NCA is aware of the dangers of trusting politicians to secretly
decide on issues that affect the nation. The move by the political parties
to write the constitution of the country undermines the fundamental
principles of democracy and constitutionalism. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans
and the people should be accorded the right to shape a future they want.

The NCA wants to clarify to the MDC and Zanu Pf that their intention to come
and impose a constitution in Zimbabwe will be morally and principally denied
by Zimbabweans. We will mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to resist and reject
any constitution imposed on them by greedy politicians of the day.

The draft document which has been agreed on by the MDC and Zanu PF remains
an agreement between them and cannot be a constitution for Zimbabwe .
Zimbabweans will also deny the draft constitution on the basis that they
never gave any mandate to MDC and ZANU PF to write a constitution of the
country on their behalf.

The NCA wants to make it clear that iregardless of what ZANU PF and MDC will
agree on, the people of Zimbabwe will continue pushing for a new people
driven constitution which guarantee them social, political and economic
rights.

We further reiterate our position that any election without a new
constitution will be null and void for as long as the processes which govern
those elections are illegitimate and fraudulent.

A leadership that comes out of a bogus election will remain illegitimate and
controversial in the eyes of all stakeholders.

President intervenes to quell commotion

From The Herald, 15 December

Herald Reporter

President Mugabe yesterday intervened to quell a commotion that followed
after war veterans leader Cde Jabulani Sibanda attempted to address the Zanu
PF Extraordinary Congress. Cde Mugabe took to the podium and restored order
after disagreements on whether Cde Sibanda should deliver a solidarity
message on behalf of the war veterans. Cde Sibanda’s deputy Cde Joseph
Chinotimba was about to hand over the floor to the former when party
National Chairman Cde John Nkomo and leaders at the top table indicated that
Cde Sibanda was not supposed to address congress because he is currently
expelled from the party. Cde Sibanda was expelled in 2004 on disciplinary
grounds and his case is still to be dealt with. Some war veterans wanted Cde
Sibanda to address the congress but the party leadership stood its ground
and said he could not do so. "Musangano wakarwa hondo waive netsika unoita
hovhiyo yakadayi taakupedza? Mawar veterans tinovapa rukudzo rwakakomba,
(but) war veterans must be disciplined. "Kana ini ndaramba kuti hazviitwe,"
said President Mugabe stamping his authority as party leader. The President
said although they recognised Cde Sibanda as the leader of the war veterans
and his efforts to campaign for the party, he could not address the congress
until his case had been finalised.

Where is Zim's missing money?

IOL

    December 14 2007 at 06:44PM

Harare - Zimbabwe reserve bank governor Gideon Gono on Friday said
President Robert Mugabe's cronies were fuelling the country's runaway
inflation through illicit dealings.

Addressing thousands attending a congress of the ruling party, Gono
said some top government and ruling party officials were among "cash barons"
blamed for the current cash shortages that had seen customers waiting long
hours for scarce money.

"We think we are helping some people with money for small to medium
size enterprises, they use the money to buy foreign currency on the parallel
market and drive inflation," Gono said.

"It's not ordinary members of the party who are doing this. It's the
top officials because as we can all see ordinary people have no money.

"Another problem is corruption, corruption, corruption," he added.

"This country is losing a lot of money because of top officials."

He said the central bank released ZIM$67-trillion of which
ZIM$57-trillion could not be accounted for.

The central bank chief said the country's economy ravaged by high
inflation currently at nearly 8 000 percent would recover by end of next
year.

He said: "Once we implement what's in our secret bag, this economy
will not be the same by this time next year."

Zimbabwe has been experiencing cash shortages since mid-November with
banks dispensing half the daily cash limits to customers.

Between May and September 2003, the country experienced similar
critical cash shortages that saw customers sleeping outside banks to
withdraw their savings.

The southern African country is in the midst of an economic crisis,
characterised by the world's highest rate of inflation, shortages of basic
foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil, and mass unemployment. - Sapa-AFP

Zimbabwe government proposes amendments to press, security laws

Monsters and Critics

Dec 15, 2007, 14:38 GMT

Johannesburg/Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government appears to have
taken first steps towards amending controversial press and security laws
under pressure from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and
African negotiators, it emerged Saturday.

The Zimbabwe authorities published three key bills which are likely to be
fast-tracked through parliament soon: the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Amendment Bill, the Public Order and Security
Amendment Bill and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill, according to
legal sources.

It was not immediately possible to obtain copies of the proposed legislation
to see how far-reaching the amendments are.

During several months of delicate inter-party talks mediated by South
African president Thabo Mbeki, the MDC has been pushing for changes to the
press and security laws as a key condition for its participation in
parliamentary and presidential polls next year.

Unconfirmed reports this week suggested the talks were near collapse because
of what MDC negotiators saw as the Mugabe party's unwillingness to meet some
of its demands.

The opposition complains that the security laws, which forbid all public
gatherings without police permission, have been used selectively to clamp
down on opposition rallies.

The press laws, brought in shortly after Mugabe's disputed presidential win
in 2002, have been used to chase out reporters from the private and foreign
press, and to close down at least four newspapers sympathetic to the MDC.

In a summary of the proposed new legislation, legal sources said the AIPPA
Amendment Bill provided for the revision of procedures whereby journalists
are licensed. The highly-controversial Media and Information Council could
also be reconstituted.

Changes to POSA would allow those wishing to hold rallies urgent access to a
magistrate to appeal against prohibition orders.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Zimbabwe air force sends helicopter to flooded areas

Monsters and Critics

Dec 15, 2007, 8:53 GMT

Harare - A Zimbabwe air force helicopter has been sent to rescue flood
victims in the northern Zambezi Valley as heavy rains continue to pound the
country, reports said Saturday.

There has been no report back from the rescue team that was Friday sent to
the Muzarabani area, below the Zambezi escarpment, said the state-controlled
Herald newspaper.

A bridge in the area is reported to have been swept away by heavy floods.

Other low-lying areas in the country are at risk of flash floods, said the
country's department of meteorological services.

People living close to rivers and dams have been advised to closely monitor
water levels and move to higher ground if necessary, the paper quoted a
statement from the country's civil protection unit as saying.

It advised people not to cross rivers that are in flood.

Heavy rains are expected to continue throughout the country next week,
according to the meteorological department.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Three university student leaders abducted

The Zimbabwean

 Saturday, 15 December 2007 11:30

HARARE:
THREE student leaders from the National University of Science and Technology
(NUST) were on Thursday night allegedly abducted and  severely beaten up by
15 army personnel, National Railways of Zimbabwe security officers and
suspected state agents, Zinasu has said.

Themba Maphenduka, Sheunesu Nyoni (Students Union Secretary General) and
Brian Mtisi ( Secretary for Information and Publicity),  were apprehended
for allegedly commenting that the delay on the timetable of the train
service was as a result of the just ended Zanu PF Congress.
The train was expected to leave for Harare at 2100hrs but up until midnight
the train had not yet arrived at the departure bay. The students were on
their way to Harare for a ZINASU Human Rights Dialogue scheduled for the
weekend.
The three, according to sources, were taken to the Railway control room were
they were severely beaten up with wooden sticks, baton sticks, iron bars,
fists and chains.
"The beatings continued for about 4 hours and only ceased after the arrival
of   police officers from Bulawayo Central Police.Charges proffered against
them were that they were being a public nuisance and that they were inciting
public violence. They were later released this morning after paying
admission of guilty fines," Zinasu said on Saturday (today)-CAJ News.

Litany Bird has flown the nest

www.cathybuckle.com

Saturday 15th December 2007

Dear Family and Friends.
The Litany Bird has flown the nest for a while over the Christmas/New Year
period so I am filling in for her. She will miss Christmas at home but apart
from the joy of being with one's family it's hard to see that the festive
season will bring much cheer to Zimbabweans still in the country. The
nightmare has been going on for so long that it's hard to remember the last
time there was a 'normal' Christmas when people were able to go home
kumusha/ekhaya loaded down with groceries and gifts. The days of the 13th
salary are long gone, I suspect. With unemployment at 80%, the workers are
in the minority and even if you're lucky enough to have a job and lucky
enough to receive a bonus, it's not likely to go far with inflation shooting
up like a rocket on a daily basis. And just to complicate matters further
there is nothing to buy in the shops. The shelves are still empty six months
after Operation Dzikisai Mitengo. A friend phoned me this week from home
saying that even if he had the money to buy new shoes for his kids, there
were none in his local Bata shop. The shelves are completely bare. Not one
shoe in a shoe shop! It reminds me of that wonderful old spiritual ' I got
shoes, you got shoes. All God's chillun got shoes.' Not in Zimbabwe they
haven't!

The truth is that Zimbabwe is in a sorry state and despite the much-hyped
Million Man March at home and all the strutting and posturing in Lisbon at
the EU/AU Summit no one is deceived any more. The African leaders may gather
round the old man in a protective laager but the truth of Zimbabwe's
collapse is there for all to see. For me, the picture of Robert Mugabe hand
in hand with Sudan's President Al Bashir said it all. In the words of the
old English proverb: Birds of a feather flock together. But there are signs
that there are splits in the protective laager round the old man. Mugabe may
shout as loud as he likes about the 'racist' Europeans and endlessly repeat
his slogan that 'Zimbabwe will never be a colony again' but it is not only
white Europeans who see the truth. Last Sunday a black British clergyman
John Sentamu, originally from Idi Amin's Uganda, made a dramatic gesture of
condemnation of the way Mugabe has destroyed his country. Interviewed on a
widely seen TV chat show Sentamu suddenly whipped off his clerical collar
and cut it into pieces to demonstrate what Mugabe was doing to his country.
The collar is the public sign of my identity said the outspoken Archbishop
of York and in cutting it up I am showing the world that my identity as a
priest cannot continue normally while my fellow human beings are suffering
at the hands of a despotic ruler. ' I will not wear a collar again until
Mugabe is gone' declared the priest. It was a hugely symbolic public
gesture, live on TV and seen by millions. It may not seem very important but
such gestures demonstrate to the world and, above all, to suffering
Zimbabweans that they are not alone. Another brave clergyman, former
Archbishop Desmond Tutu also spoke out very strongly begging the Summit
leaders to intervene to save Zimbabwe from absolute destruction. It is
surely a sign of HOPE when men of such integrity have the courage to speak
the truth about crimes against humanity committed by an African brother. And
Hope is what Zimbabwe needs more than anything else this Christmas. May the
light of Hope shine in our hearts this Christmas and into the New Year.
Until next time. Ndini shamwari yenyu. PH

A letter from the diaspora

www.cathybuckle.com

14th December 2007

Dear Friends.
Winter has come with a vengeance this week in the UK. The ground is white
with frost most mornings and it is bitterly cold. There's a thin film of ice
on the canal I walk along every day and it's not easy to remember that at
home the weather is hotting up and - for some places anyway - the rains have
come.

The weather is not the only contrast; in the streets of the town where I
live there are hordes of people doing what the Brits like best: shopping!
Christmas is the excuse for indulging their favourite pastime and the
contrast between this land of plenty and the desperate shortages and near
starvation back home is sharp and painful. That contrast is made even more
painful when we hear the President of Zimbabwe's words to the faithful at
the Zanu PF Congress currently underway in Harare. After his usual attack on
the Brits and Americans, Mugabe said he was being ostracised for defending
the rights of his people and he added, 'Their welfare is my welfare, their
suffering is my suffering. They (the people) own Zimbabwe.' Place those
words alongside the news that Zanu PF has spent millions, or do I mean
trillions, on new vehicles for the party faithful ahead of the elections
which he still insists will be held in March 2008. War vets, Youth Militia
and the Women's Brigade will all be allotted brand new vehicles to travel
the length and breadth of the country to spread the Zanu PF gospel - along
with maize handouts too I'm sure.

What exactly that gospel is I for one do not know. Apart from a constant
barrage of hatred and intolerance for anyone who dares to disagree with
their saviour, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, I can't see any policies which point
the way forward for the country. All we ever hear is that the Liberation
Stuggle is the measure by which everything must be judged and anyone who
can't see that is a traitor. According to the Zanu PF gospel, there is only
one man who can lead the country and that man is Robert Mugabe. Despite the
fact that Zimbabwe, led for 27 years by that same man, has the highest
inflation in the world and the lowest life expectancy for its citizens of
whom 80% are unemployed we are expected to believe the declaration of a
man - who has already lived 50 years longer than the average Zimbabwean man
can expect to live - that 'Their (the people's) suffering is my suffering'.
It defies all logic that any sane person should trust the sincerity of a
leader who has ruined the economy and caused untold suffering in the
process, trampled on human and political rights, blatantly rigged elections,
sidelined the judiciary and police and created a virtual one-party state
with the military in control of every parastatal in the country. What has
any of that to do with the 'welfare of the people' and in what way are
Mugabe and his close followers 'sharing' the suffering? Mugabe answers that
the suffering has all been caused by sanctions imposed by foreigners intent
on bringing about regime change. That lie should be repeatedly exposed for
what it is by every Zimbabwean opposition politician; as the Archbishop of
York, a fellow African, demonstrated so graphically on UK TV last week when
he cut up his clerical collar, it is Mugabe who has destroyed the identity
of this once proud nation.

It took a woman, the German president Angela Merkel, to tell the old man the
truth at the EU/AU Summit in Lisbon; 'You are giving Africa a bad name.' And
for that she was labelled Racist and Fascist by the Zimbabwean Minister of
Information. What is it about Mugabe's followers that they are totally
unable to conduct a rational debate without descending to crude, personal
abuse? I thought the Dutch leader had it just right when he said he counted
it an honour to be included in Mugabe's Gang of Four! Humour and satire are
very powerful weapons against dictatorial regimes as Wole Soyinka
demonstrates.
In one thing, however, Mugabe was right. There's always a smidgen of truth
in what he says; that's what makes his propaganda so devilishly clever! He
was right when he said it is the people who own Zimbabwe. He would do well
to remember that when elections come round.
With another new year just round the corner, it's hard to believe that any
of us in the diaspora will get home any time soon. I for one have to keep on
telling myself not to give up, that hope is all we have and we must never
give up the struggle for a free and democratic Zimbabwe. In the meantime we
must keep up the pressure, whatever way we can, wherever our talents lie and
in whatever way we know best.
Yours in the struggle. PH

Panic grips "World Bank"

The Zimbabwean

 Saturday, 15 December 2007 14:31

BULAWAYO---Panic has gripped among the illegal foreign currency dealers
popularly known as Osiphatheleni  in Bulawayo as rumours   for currency
change   is filtering.

 Addressing the  Zanu PF  Extraordinary congress  in Harare  on  Friday
the Reserve Bank   of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor  Gideon Gono  accused   top
government  officials of  causing the   artificial cash shortages  by
running  illegal  foreign currency exchange  syndicates.Gono said   he is
going  to surprise   these cash  barons  by unveiling a secret  economic
reform at an unnamed date.
 Due   to Gono's sentiments rumuors has been flittering in the black-market
sector since Friday evening that the country’s currency   is going to be
changed  anytime  before Christmas and   new   currency will be unveiled.
 Several  Osiphatelinis   who spoke   to  The Zimbabwean  on Saturday  from
the  notorious known ‘World Bank”  located at corner Fort Street and Fifth
Avenue in Bulawayo said  they don’t  know what to do  with  hordes of local
currency in their hands if Gono is to change money before Christmas.
“We  surely  don’t  know   what to do with these hordes  of cash in our
hands   if the  RBZ is  going to change currency  before Christmas because
this the period our business is at peak” said Mildred Ncube one of the
illegal foreign currency dealer operating from “World Bank”
Ester Makuwe   another  illegal  foreign currency dealer  said  if  the
currency is going to be changed    before Christmas  she will  run out of
business  as  most of her clients who are  from South Africa  are now  about
flock in for holiday
“If Gono changes currency  I will be definitely out of business  my
clients usually they come  during Christmas period  from South  Africa  so
they will  find me without  local currency  to give  them” said  Makuwe.

CIO and Zanu-PF supporters want to kill Bulawayo documentary producer

The Zimbabwean

 Saturday, 15 December 2007 11:07

By Nokhuthula Khumalo

The producer of a documentary on Matabeleland 1980s army atrocities Zenzele
Ndebele has resorted to hiding after notorious members of the Central
Intelligence Organization (CIO) and Zanu-PF supporters are threatening to
kill him.
 Ndebele said he is in hiding after receiving threats from unknown people he
suspects could be state secret agents and Zanu-PF supporters
 The 25-minute documentary titled “Gukurahundi: A Moment of Madness”
narrates events during an army crackdown known as Gukurahundi that was
carried out by the army’s notorious 5th Brigade ostensibly to rid the
southern Matabeleland and Midlands regions of armed dissidents opposed to
President Robert Mugabe’s rule.
 An estimated 20 000 innocent civilians, almost all of them belonging to the
minority Ndebele tribe, died in the crackdown that is one of the darkest
periods in Zimbabwe’s post-colonial history.
 Producer, Zenzele Ndebele told ZimOnline he fled his home after receiving
calls from unknown people who demanded to know why he produced the
documentary.
“I no longer stay at home but at a place in one location in Bulawayo where I
feel I am safe,” Ndebele said by phone yesterday. “I have received threats
to arrest and force me to reveal the reasons behind the documentary and its
sponsors.”
 The Gukurahundi massacres remain a sensitive subject especially because
Mugabe’s government has refused to apologise for the killings although the
Zimbabwean leader has called the crackdown a moment of madness.
 

The people must stop Mugabe

The Zimbabwean

 Saturday, 15 December 2007 11:36

Dear Editor

The last two weeks saw two major developments that have a bearing on the
future of Zimbabwe as a nation.

The first is that President Mugabe attended the EU-Africa summit where he
repeated the same claims that problems in Zimbabwe are a result of the
interference of the West in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe. Although he
was criticised by some EU leaders his African brothers were quick to his
defence, a foretaste of how the proposed Peer Review System is going to
work. Before the summit many African leaders had argued that Mugabe should
be invited so that the world could engage him on the problems in his country
but no sooner had the appalling human rights situation in Zimbabwe been
raised by Chancellor Merkel did the true colours of the leaders come out.
Some argued that Europe should leave Mugabe to Africa because they had no
understanding of African democracy, whatever this means. For seven years
Africa has failed to reign in Mugabe and in the process failed the masses of
Zimbabwe. So once again no reprieve came from this summit for the suffering
people of Zimbabwe. The second development was the Zanu PF special congress
which endorsed Mugabe's candidature and declared him 'Life President'. While
it was widely expected that the congress would endorse Mugabe there was an
outside chance that someone would challenge Mugabe or at least voice concern
at the rate at which conditions in the country are deteriorating. But nobody
had the courage giving credence to Margaret Dongo's claim that all in Zanu
PF are Mugabe's 'wives'. Now that two of the platforms that were expected to
challenge Mugabe or at least to help him see the errors of his ways have
failed the people should take it upon themselves to stop Robert Mugabe. The
only available way is to vote resoundingly against Mugabe in the forthcoming
elections. Although the odds are against the people we have no option but to
try even when we believe that Mugabe has already rigged the elections. In
order to stop Mugabe we should stop waiting for the politicians to call
campaign rallies but rather each one of us should act as an agent
provocateur for change. It is only the use of the word of mouth where
families talk to family members, neighbours to neighbours as well as friends
to friends. We should make it clear to each other that we can no longer
afford to have Mugabe after the coming elections. It is only through mass
mobilisation within our immediate micro cells that the fire for change can
be ignited. Zimbabweans cannot afford to remain Mugabe's wives anymore. We
should take it upon ourselves to stop Mugabe. Mbeki and Africa have failed,
the western world has been talk without action and now the people must
liberate themselves from the clutches of the Zanu PF monster. This election
can be a watershed regardless of what rigging mechanisms Mugabe has put in
place if the all the people who are angry at having no jobs, no water, no
electricity, no food go and vote. It is sheer numbers that will stop Mugabe.
We have defeated Mugabe before (Referendum, 2000) and I believe that if all
people who can vote go and vote against the mortgaging of our nation to
pseudo War veterans and other rogue elements in Zanu PF we will be able to
stop Mugabe. The people now have only themselves to blame if Mugabe retains
power because we can stop him."All genuine knowledge originates in direct
experience" Mao Tse-Tung"

Nyengeterai Gidi, UK