http://www.theaustralian.com.au
BY: ANGUS SHAW From: AAP December 17, 2012
4:42AM
MAINSTREAM Anglican Christians in Zimbabwe have taken back
their cathedral
after a lockout of more than five years staged by an
excommunicated,
breakaway bishop who claimed loyalty to the president's
party and used
loyalist police to keep people out.
Worshippers from
across the country and regional church leaders thronged the
central Harare
square on Sunday for a service to "cleanse and re-dedicate"
the historic
colonial-era cathedral towering over the square.
Bishop Chad Gandiya
struck the main doors three times with a pastoral staff
to have them opened.
He blessed what he called the "defiled" interior with
signs of the cross
ahead of the first Eucharist service by mainstream
Anglicans since they were
often violently banished from churches and
missions seized
nationwide.
The nation's highest court has declared the seizures
illegal.
Breakaway Bishop Nolbert Kunonga launched a campaign a decade
ago against
the regional Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa
to which
Zimbabwe belongs, claiming it supported gay rights. In outspoken
sermons, he
backed militants of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in
violent
elections and repeated much of Mugabe's criticism of his political
opponents
and the United States and Britain, the former colonial power
before
independence in 1980.
Kunonga seized church bank accounts
and cars as his followers occupied
church schools, orphanages and other
properties.
Gandiya's diocese officials said many of those facilities
went into
disrepair - churches were locked and ousted worshippers held their
services
in Catholic church halls, public areas and homes.
Some
church buildings were turned into dormitories and food kitchens for
Kunonga's supporters. Others were turned into flea markets and drinking
halls that attracted prostitutes, officials said.
"We must all ensure
this never happens again," Gandiya told cheering and
ululating congregants.
"Let us be ready for the journey from the past to the
future. Let's press on
to rebuild our church."
Kunonga removed burial plaques, tombstones,
carvings and commemorative
displays honouring prominent colonial-era
citizens as well as black soldiers
of the colonial African Rifles regiment
who fought for Britain and its
allies in the First and Second World Wars.
Those relics are believed to have
been destroyed.
http://www.iol.co.za
December 16 2012 at 03:57pm
By Peta
Thornycroft
Zimbabwean parties this week once again went back
to square one, re-opening
negotiations for a new constitution after
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF
rejected a draft constitution which it had
helped write in more than three
years of hard bargaining.
But in a
new cabinet committee set up to renegotiate the constitution,
President
Robert Mugabe refused to budge on Thursday from the objections
Zanu-PF had
raised to the charter its negotiators had agreed to in July.
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) constitutional affairs minister Eric
Matinenga, who
chairs the committee, said the team would meet again tomorrow
to try again.
“It is work in progress, but something positive is happening,”
he
said.
The high-level committee comprises the principals from each party
in the
unity government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the bigger MDC,
Industry Minister Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC and Mugabe, who
was confirmed last week as Zanu-PF’s candidate in the next presidential poll
scheduled to be held next year.
Ncube had at first refused to
participate in the new committee, saying the
three parties had already
agreed to a draft constitution. But he relented
this week.
The three
parties had agreed in July to a draft constitution after three
years of hard
bargaining and released it to the public.
The most significant reform in
the draft charter was a considerable
reduction in presidential powers and
some devolution of power from the
central government to the
provinces.
Zanu-PF hardliners then intervened and overrode their own
negotiating team,
releasing a 29-page document objecting to much of the
draft, mainly those
sections which diminished the power of the
president.
Zanu-PF’s politburo made the same objections which it brought
to a
stakeholders’ conference in October. But the MDC rejected Zanu-PF’s
proposed
changes, saying they had already made substantial concessions
during the
three years of negotiations.
They said Zanu-PF should have
raised its objections during those
negotiations and pointed out that the
cabinet minister-level Zanu-PF
negotiators had reported to Mugabe all the
way, so he knew what concessions
they had made.
Many MDC officials
and analysts believe Zanu-PF is deliberately stalling the
process until the
current unity government expires next year, so that they
can go into
elections on the old constitution which favours Zanu-PF, as it
would leave
its powers intact.
Mugabe appeared to confirm these suspicions when he
told his party’s annual
conference last week: “If they do not (agree), I am
going to declare sooner
or later the day of an election. Enough is enough.
We cannot continue to
drag our feet on this.”
But Finance Minister
Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary-general, disagreed,
saying recently:
“Zimbabwe clearly is not ready for an election; it’s
impossible to have an
election in March. We will limp our way to some form
of acceptable
agreement. Our people are tired. They want a solution. They
want peace. So I
think we will reach an agreement because everyone is
exhausted.”
If
or when it has been finalised, the draft charter is expected to be put to
a
referendum, leading to the new elections, which would have to be held by
next October.
The delay in resolving the political impasse is
aggravating Zimbabwe’s tough
economic predicament with a recent slow-down in
the recovery that began
after the multiparty government was established in
February 2009 and began
to repair the damage inflicted on Zimbabwe by 29
years of Zanu-PF rule.
The World Bank warned this week that anxiety over
Zimbabwe’s next elections
and lack of clarity on Mugabe’s “indigenisation”
policy had created a gloomy
outlook for the economy.
The latest
research note released by the bank predicts that Zimbabwe’s
recovery or
growth will be 6 percent next year, moderating to 5 percent in
2014 and 2015
“as (the) level of investment remains below potential”, reads
the report in
part.
“The outlook remains fragile and clouded by possible compression of
exports
due to the unfolding global economic slowdown, the risk of
disorderly
unwinding of vulnerabilities in the banking sector, downside risk
in the
agricultural sector, potential destabilising effects of (the)
indigenisation
programme on the economy, external vulnerability and
uncertainty from the
new electoral cycle.”
The World Bank noted
Zimbabwe had not entered a sustained path to recovery,
adding that growth in
the mining sector was inhibited by limited exploration
affected by increased
fees for prospecting and exploration.
The mining sector accounts for more
than 50 percent of the country’s
exports.
A manufacturer in Harare
said this week: “I think our statistics will show
that the fourth quarter
this year has been disastrous.
“We can see persistent decline in
manufacturing to a level we last saw
before the collapse in 2008 through
hyper-inflation.” - Sunday Independent
| |||||||||
A recent Zanu PF
conference proposed to jam the signals of foreign-based radio stations such as
VOA’s Studio 7, Radio Voice of the People and SW Radio Africa that party
officials accuse of pushing a Western-backed regime change agenda in Zimbabwe.
But critics say such a move would deny the majority of people access to
important alternative sources of information to make informed decisions. SC:
We have to look at this thing in an open way. We don’t want to mention
names or anything. Honourable Minister Shamu is not the Chairperson of the Media
Commission. The Media Commission was legally constituted; the SORC was
responsible for interviewing the people in the Media Commission. In that media
commission there are people who were recommended by MDC, there are people who
were recommended by Zanu PF to be in the media commission. I have the minutes
and he (Chikwinya) also has the papers. Everything is in black and white. |
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
16/12/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
AMERICAN billionaire Bill Gates is in Zimbabwe on a safari
holiday, reports
said on Sunday.
The Microsoft boss, the world's richest
man from 1995 to 2009, arrived in
the country last Tuesday on a six-day
visit, according to the Sunday Mail.
The newspaper said Gates, his wife
Melinda and their two children touched
down at the Buffalo Range Airport in
Chiredzi on a small private jet and
checked into the exclusive Malilangwe
Game Reserve.
The Mail said Gates – the world’s second richest man – was
staying at the
first-class Singita Pamushana Lodge where a five-bedroom
luxury private
boarding costs US$5,785 per night
The Gates family has
interests in Zimbabwe. Last year, Melinda – a
world-famous philanthropist –
availed a US$5 million fund through the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation
for developmental projects in Harare.
The fund is expected to see the
construction of houses for low-income
earners and less-privileged members of
society in Dzivaresekwa township.
Part of the funds will be used to
improve waste management in the capital.
Bill Gates' visit is a boon for
the country's tourism industry which has
been on a recovery path since 2009
when a coalition government eased
political tensions in the
country.
"'If Gates can holiday in Zimbabwe, then anyone can' is the
message that
Zimbabwe will hope to send to the world," said a tourism
expert.
Early this year, Donald Jnr and Eric Trump – the sons of
American
billionaire property tycoon Donald Trump – were photographed on a
big game
hunt in Zimbabwe during which they killed an elephant, a leopard
and a
buffalo. The grissly pictures attracted condemnation from animal
rights
groups.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Jeffrey Muvundusi, Own Correspondent
Sunday, 16
December 2012 14:10
BULAWAYO - Explosive WikiLeaks diplomatic leaks which
exposed how the likes
of political flip-flopper Jonathan Moyo advised
Americans on best ways to
topple President Robert Mugabe are haunting new US
envoy to Zimbabwe Bruce
Wharton.
The leaked cables shook both Zanu PF
and the MDC to the core after they
exposed how senior ministers and
officials from both parties told different
US envoys how they distasted
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
leadership
qualities.
Some, like Moyo were so dutiful in their cooperation with the
Americans that
the US envoys referred to him as a “useful messenger”,
according to leaked
cables.
It should have been a stroll in the park
for Wharton to gain the confidence
of locals behind closed doors since he is
a sort of a “local boy”.
Wharton ingratiated himself well with the local
fraternity during his stay
in Zimbabwe as an embassy public affairs officer
and spokesperson between
1999- 2003.
But the WikiLeaks saga is making
Wharton’s job difficult, at a time he
desperately needs to feel the pulse in
Zanu PF and the MDC — not from
kowtowing NGO leaders telling him what they
know he wants to hear.
Fresh from being snubbed by Bulawayo provincial
governor Cain Mathema for a
courtesy call, Wharton readily admitted the
disclosed cables are hurting his
efforts.
“WikiLeaks has come up in
my conversations. People are concerned,” said the
58-year-old
diplomat.
“Officially I can’t confirm nor deny that those supposed
telegrams were
genuine. So what I said was that a lot of diplomacy is done
on the basis of
trust,” said Wharton.
As part of the new office
duties, Wharton visited Bulawayo Province last
week where he met a wide
range from politicians, civic society leaders,
artists and HIV
activists.
But he could not meet the top man in the
province.
Mathema refused to meet with the new ambassador the same way he
spurned
Wharton’s predecessor, Charles Ray. Mathema muted something to do
with
sanctions, although observes noted meeting a US envoy now would not
carry
much favour with Mugabe.
Speaking to journalists at the
Bulawayo Press Club later, Wharton admitted
that some of his hosts were
concerned and wary about the WikiLeaks issue.
He said one of his early
jobs in Zimbabwe is to develop relationships.
“If I tell somebody that
they can speak to me in confidence, I am trying to
establish those
relationships with people from all of the political parties
in Zimbabwe,” he
said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Ndakaziva Majaka, Staff Writer
Sunday, 16 December
2012 14:10
HARARE - One of the world’s most popular chicken
franchises, Kentucky Fried
Chicken (KFC)’s bid to fly back into Zimbabwe is
facing huge challenges.
Indegenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere has
slammed Kevin James, the
franchise holder for the fast-food giant for opting
for South African
imported chickens as he re-establishes KFC in Zimbabwe in
the New Year.
Kasukuwere said the move is meant to stifle efforts to empower
local
producers.
“We are not going to let this provision hold, with
an already flooded
poultry industry, we would be stupid to let James import
South African
chickens,” Kasukuwere told the Daily News on
Sunday.
“The Finance minister will tell you that our import-export bill
is not
looking good so we cannot allow South African chickens into our
market,
leave out the fact that their chickens are genetically modified and
our food
industry is organic,” Kasukuwere said.
James, owner of
Consolidated Farming Investments Limited, a leading investor
in the fast
food sector in Zimbabwe, is heading KFC’s re-entry into
Zimbabwe.
James is also the CEO of South Africa-registered company,
Country Bird
Holdings Limited, the third largest chicken supplier in that
country.
The franchise holder is reportedly lobbying ministers to be
allowed to
import chickens from South Africa, the objective being for KFC to
be granted
an import duty exemption, or to be allowed to import chickens at
a lower
duty tariff.
The last KFC franchise holder in Zimbabwe was
Firmside Investments, which
also runs the Wimpy franchise, who got hit by
the economic meltdown that
affected Zimbabwe from the turn of the decade to
2009.
David Haslack, an Administrative Director at Irvine’s Chickens (a
local
chicken supplier) told the Daily News on Sunday that although the
franchiser
had initially approached his organisation for a contract to
supply chickens,
KFC pulled out “at the last minute” and abandoned the
deal.
In the countries that it operates, KFC has made headlines through
the use of
growth hormones on their chickens. This allows them to mass
produce chickens
with large body mass at very short time
intervals.
Some of these chickens die due to obesity before
slaughter.
KFC’s request for special treatment has riled the local
poultry industry
which has welcomed the new import duty regime of $1, 50 per
kg or 40
percent, whichever is higher.
The Zimbabwe Poultry
Association (ZPA) said it hoped the new duty regime
would see some of the
$65 million spent on imports going to local breeders.
ZPA said although
they do not have legislative powers, government is their
last card in the
KFC battle.
“As far as we know, South African chickens were banned in
Zimbabwe.
“However, as we all know Zimbabwe is looking for foreign
investors, so we
will wait and see how government tackles this issue,” said
Mario Beffa, an
administrator at ZPA.
“The local poultry industry is
already flooded. We hope government will act
in the interest of the nation
and make sure KFC make use of local organic
chickens,” said
Beffa.
Efforts to get a comment from James were futile as he was said to
be out of
the country.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Richard Chidza, Staff Writer
Sunday, 16 December
2012 14:10
HARARE - For three decades, the Zanu PF politburo
acted as a de facto
government, directing State arms at every
turn.
But President Robert Mugabe and his band are getting used to being
reduced
to wishful thinkers harmstrung by a decline that has forced them to
share
power in a shaky coalition as well as requiring the regional Sadc body
for
actions such as calling elections.
At the recent Zanu PF
conference held in Gweru, party cadres again produced
a long wish-list:
return of the Zimbabwe dollar, abandoning the
constitution-making process by
Christmas, elections by March under the
Lancaster House
constitution.
Party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo admits the once-mighty
“revolutionary party”
simply no longer wields the power to effect
resolutions it has consistently
passed at different gatherings in the past
four years.
He told the Daily News on Sunday after the conclusion of Zanu
PF’s annual
pilgrimage that the party is suffering from “the reality on the
ground”.
“What happens in terms of implementation is that sometimes the
resolutions
we make are torpedoed by the reality on the ground. We cannot
just force
things through without considering what the situation demands,”
he said.
“In some instances, the situation dictates that we change tact,”
Gumbo said.
The Zanu PF information supremo was responding to questions
on why his party
has continued to demand elections, the return of the
Zimbabwe dollar and
self-renewal through integrating youths into its higher
echelons without
seeing these through.
Since Mugabe was forced into a
coalition government by Sadc and the African
Union in the aftermath of the
disputed 2008 presidential election run-off,
the Zimbabwean strongman has
taken every opportunity to declare he would
dissolve Parliament and call for
elections to no avail.
His wishes have come unstuck as power-sharing
Global Political Agreement
(GPA) guarantor Sadc has put its foot down and
demanded reforms first, in
particular a new constitution.
As one of
its resolutions last week, Mugabe’s party demanded that those
saddled with
crafting a new governance charter for the country come up with
an agreeable
draft by Christmas or its leader calls for elections.
“The party implores
the GPA parties to conclude the constitution-making
process before Christmas
this year, failing which the Head-of-State and
Commander-in-Chief of the
defence forces should in terms of the law issue
the relevant proclamation
dissolving Parliament and fixing a date for the
holding of harmonised
elections under the current Constitution,” the
resolutions read.
Then
big brother (Sadc)spoke to the effect that Zanu PF was dreaming.
A Sadc
Extraordinary Summit of the Heads State and Government held in
Tanzania
during the same week poured cold water on the Zanu PF demands, by
issuing
its own resolutions demanding that the coalition partners in
Zimbabwe
complete the constitution-making process before any election is
held.
“Summit urged the political stakeholders in Zimbabwe to fully
implement the
GPA and urged the political stakeholders to finalise the
constitutional
process including referendum before the holding of...the
elections in 2013,”
the resolutions read in part.
A man who has
constantly denied Zanu PF’s wish of turning the Zimdollar,
Finance minister
Tendai Biti, said some of Zanu PF’s resolutions belong to
dreamland.
In an interview with South African cable television
channel e-TV Africa,
Biti said Zimbabwe’s struggling economy cannot sustain
the return of the
country’s comatose currency.
“The currency of any
country is related to production. We have a disastrous
current account
position where our imports are three times the size of our
exports. We need
to work on the supply side, reforms and create an economy
that can sustain
the return of the Zimdollar,” Biti said.
“Zanu PF has no capacity to run
the economy and that is why we are in this
mess. They are trying to score
cheap political points,” Biti said.
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn president Simba
Makoni, who reportedly left the party to
contest the 2008 elections as a
strategy to neutralise votes and save Mugabe
from outright defeat, said Zanu
PF should not be taken seriously anymore.
“Zanu PF is very insignificant
in the life of Zimbabweans going forward.
Nobody takes what they say
seriously anymore. This party does not have the
energy or capacity for self-
renewal,” he told the Daily News on Sunday.
He said Mugabe and Zanu PF
were on a leash.
“Mugabe and his party’s political livelihoods are
dependent on Sadc hence
they would not do anything to antagonise the
regional body. It is all
political hogwash,” Makoni said.
Political
analyst Jonah Gokova said Zanu PF has lost capacity to generate
new
ideas.
“This party has lost capacity to generate new ideas. We need new
thinking,
not the constant recycling of slogans, policies and
people.
“They should be thankful to Sadc for delaying their demise. If
they continue
on this path with no innovation as we go for elections, I can
tell you the
end of Zanu PF is nigh,” Gokova said.
“The resolutions
coming out of Gweru show that Zanu PF is not ready for
elections even if
they are held in June. It is all rhetoric, hot air
signifying nothing,” he
said.
Gumbo, on the other hand, insisted that Zanu PF is grooming young
people for
leadership.
“We hold workshops and youths have been urged
to take up various positions
in the party. They just need to understand the
party ideology, values and
our inspiration. The willingness is there,” he
said.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 7 hours
23 minutes ago
CORRUPT ministers fingered in high level graft
by President Robert Mugabe at
the just-ended ZANU-PF people’s conference
have been let off the hook with
no action likely to be taken against them
until Parliament is dissolved
before next year’s polls.
The ZANU-PF
leader divulged at the party’s indaba held in Gweru that former
South
African president Thabo Mbeki had told him that some local ministers
had
demanded kickbacks from South Africans who were seeking to invest in the
country, claiming President Mugabe also wanted a share of the
spoils.
Although President Mugabe did not state when the report was made to
him by
Mbeki, no minister has been arrested or investigated despite the
seriousness
of the claims, with the former generalising that those who are
corrupt would
be fired.
This week, Mbeki’s spokesperson, Mukoni
Ratshitanga declined to reveal the
names of those said to have been exposed
by the former South African leader.
“I think you should approach the
spokesperson for President Mugabe.
“The matter did not reach the public
domain via us. It reached through
President Mugabe,” said
Ratshitanga.
Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba could not be
immediately reached
for comment.
However, sources in ZANU-PF said two of
the party’s ministers who are among
the most active Cabinet ministers were
at the centre of the scam.
They also claimed that President Mugabe was not
likely to crack the whip on
the two ministers as they were part of those who
submitted reports on their
respective departments at the conference, with
nothing being mentioned about
their actions.
Besides lifting the lid on
Mbeki’s claims, President Mugabe in a foreword to
the Central Committee
report presented at the party’s conference also
revealed that the corruption
cancer has extended to some ministers deployed
by the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) formations, but again no action
has been
taken.
“The leadership of the opposition MDC formations have spent their time
in
office lining up their pockets and seeking the trappings of luxury but
with
no achievements to show on the policy front.
None whatsoever! In the
process, the leadership of the opposition MDC
formations have abandoned
their own supporters for self aggrandisement,”
said President
Mugabe.
Critics say a number of known looters occupy positions in
government, but
no action has been taken against them, with the
Anti-Corruption Commission
proving to be a toothless bulldog bent only on
draining the fiscus with no
tangible results on the ground. There are
unconfirmed allegations that some
of its commissioners have since joined the
gravy train.
http://in.reuters.com
Sun Dec 16, 2012
11:00pm IST
REUTERS - A car accident in Zimbabwe on Sunday killed former
professional
footballer Adam Ndlovu and seriously injured his younger
brother Peter.
The brothers, who both represented Zimbabwe at
international level, were
travelling to a friendly match when their BMW X5
struck a tree near Victoria
Falls after a tyre burst.
Elder brother
Adam, 42, spent seven seasons playing in Switzerland
representing SC Kriens
and SR Delemont before moving to FC Zurich.
The younger Ndlovu,
39-year-old Peter, had a lengthy career in England
between 1991 and 2004
where he made over 400 appearances for Coventry City,
Birmingham City and
Sheffield United.
An update on his condition was given to the BBC by a
close friend and former
manager Winston Makamure, who said: "Peter is now
out of danger. He is now
conscious and is communicating.
"He has
internal injuries, head injuries, broken ribs and a broken leg."
Former
club Coventry City, the first English club to discover and offer
Peter
Ndlovu a playing contract, issued a statement upon hearing news of the
accident.
"Coventry City sends its best wishes and condolences to the
Ndlovu family
who will be in our thoughts," a statement posted on Coventry's
website said.
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai also offered his
condolences to
the Ndlovu family.
In message posted on his Twitter
account, Tsvangirai said: "I am saddened at
the passing on of Adam Ndlovu
and injury of Peter. My prayers are with the
Ndlovu family. I wish Peter a
speedy recovery."
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 7 hours 8
minutes ago
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe risks regional isolation if
he resists pressure from
the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
to institute requisite
reforms ahead of next year’s polls.
SADC leaders,
meeting in Tanzania last weekend summit to discuss the region’s
trouble
spots, urged the political stakeholders in Zimbabwe to fully
implement the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) before holding fresh
elections after an
inconclusive presidential poll in June 2008.
The summit further urged
President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube to finalise the
constitution-making
process.
ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
are deadlocked over contentious issues in the draft constitution
produced by
the Parliamentary Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) although
an
executive committee drawn from the three parties has been set-up to try
and
find common ground on the sticky issues.
The MDCs accuse ZANU-PF of
being directly responsible for the slow
implementation of the GPA as well as
being unwilling to implement agreed
reforms.
Addressing the ZANU-PF
people’s conference in Gweru last week, President
Mugabe threatened to
dissolve Parliament and proceed to call for elections
if a three-member
Cabinet committee set up to unlock the impasse failed to
resolve the
contentious issues by the end of this month.
The ZANU-PF leader added that if
the new constitution was not ready by the
end of this year, the country
would revert to the compromise Lancaster House
Constitution under which
fresh harmonised polls would be held in March next
year without fail.
But
regional diplomatic sources yesterday said SADC and the African Union
(AU),
the guarantors of the power-sharing pact, would continue to apply
pressure
on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF “to listen to the voice of reason”
and
adhere to the latest regional resolution.
South African President Jacob Zuma,
the SADC appointed mediator in the
Zimbabwe crisis, who last Friday briefed
the regional grouping on his
facilitation in Harare, is expected to raise
the issue at next month’s AU
annual summit in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.
While the ZANU-PF conference resolved that elections be held in
March next
year without fail, regional diplomats said President Mugabe
should at least
ensure that minimum conditions needed to hold free and fair
elections were
in place as per SADC guidelines.
There is concern in the
region that reforms agreed under the GPA have not
been implemented nearly
four years after the consummation of the
power-sharing pact.
President
Mugabe’s partners in the GPA are pushing for wide-sweeping
security sector
reforms, something the ZANU-PF leader has publicly stated is
tantamount to
effecting regime change.
The MDCs accuse the state security agents, including
the military and
police, of being complicit in the political violence that
charcterised the
2008 presidential elections, and further want the role of
state security
agents in the next elections clarified.
While the disputed
Broadcasting Authority of Zimba-bwe (BAZ) has
controversially awarded two
independent broadcasting licences to companies
said to have links with
ZANU-PF, the MDC formations want BAZ re-constituted
as agreed by the
principals in the GPA in 2011.
They also want the State-owned Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation, which is
seen as a mouth-piece of ZANU-PF, to be
transformed into a truly public
broadcaster that serves every citizen
irrespective of their political
affiliation and there are also calls for the
establishment of community
radio and television stations.
On its part,
ZANU-PF has demanded the unconditional removal of sanctions and
the
disbanding of foreign-based radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe
from
the United States and the United Kingdom.
ZANU-PF’s partners in the GPA have
also raised concerns over the
independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission they claim is staffed with
officers from the military and the
Office of the Registrar-General.
There are allegations the country’s voters’
roll is shambolic as it still
comprises names of dead people.
The SADC
resolution on the need for Zimbabwe’s political gladiators to fully
implement the GPA ahead of polls has received rave views from the country’s
civil society organisations that of late have been on a lobbying crusade
around the region, push- ing SADC leaders to ensure the country held free
and fair polls.
Gladys Hlatywayo, the executive director of the Zimbabwe
Civic Education
Trust, said the resolutions were highly commendable and in
line with what
civil society has been lobbying for in the region.
“The
reason why the GPA came into being was because of a disputed election
hence
it’s only logical to ensure that all is in place before the next
election to
avoid yet another discredited election. Without reforms, it is
clear that we
are heading towards disaster, a sham election,” said
Hlatywayo.
She added
that it was clear that SADC would not support an election that is
rashed
without full implementation of the GPA.
But Hlatywayo was quick to add that
it was very likely that ZANU-PF would
try to dig in and even force an
election in the absence of reforms, judging
from pronouncements emanating
from the party’s just-ended conference held
last week in Gweru.
“ZANU-PF
might want to appear as renegades who do not play by the book, but
they will
not enjoy the endorsement of SADC.
“I think they will emerge weaker and
exposed in that scenario.
“After all, SADC has been acting as a buffer
protecting ZANU-PF from
missiles from the rest of the world. They will have
no one to turn to and
their Pan African rhetoric will crumble,” she
said.
Phillian Zamchiya, the regional coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, said President Mugabe risked isolation if he defies SADC’s latest
resolution on Zimbabwe.
“I am confident that SADC will be able to apply
pressure to Presi-dent
Mugabe to implement the necessary reforms.
“I
think already he is becoming isolated and SADC is losing patience with
(President) Mugabe and ZANU-PF yet SADC is their last line of defence,” said
Zamchiya. - Financial Gazette
The
results of the 2011 census in England and Wales were released this week and they
show some extraordinary changes since the last stocktaking a decade earlier.
What
naturally interested us as Zimbabweans in the UK is that the figures showed a
surge in immigration which has left white British people as a minority in
London.
Last
year 7.5 million residents of England and Wales were foreign-born, making up 13%
(or 1 in 8) of the population of 56.1 million. Fourteen per cent of the
population described themselves as non-white.
People
from all over the world, including us Zimbabweans, have made a home in the UK
and more than 140 languages are spoken. So much for the idea that the British
speak only English! “British”? Yes, immigrants are invited to be
British.
The
situation here is in stark contrast to the Stone Age racist culture at home,
where even people whose families have lived there for generations are not
considered to be Zimbabweans – not only whites but Malawians, Zambians,
Mozambicans etc. (Zanu PF does not discriminate in its
bigotry!)
One of
the repulsive elements in the joke of a constitution which has been accepted by
all parties is institutionalized racism. Here in our new home in the UK racism
is illegal. Britain embraces the new: Zimbabwe is stuck in the
past.
For the
Vigil one of the most depressing of the resolutions passed at Zanu PF’s Gweru
Conference called for increased censorship of foreign broadcasts and means of
communication.
We
Zimbabweans in exile believe there is no future in shutting out the world and
looking backwards.
Other
points
·
The
Vigil noted with amusement Mugabe’s comment at the Gweru conference:
‘Looking
back to April 2009 when Copac was set up, after a long, inexplicable and wasted
44 months, it is clear that the electoral cowards and enemies of the values and
ideal of our liberation struggle have violated public trust by abusing their
participation in the GPA-mandated constitution-making process to sabotage our
electoral process.’ (https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/dec11_2012.html#Z8
– Zanu PF admits losing support).
·
Wave after wave of
jolly Father Christmases (some of them seemed to be Mother Christmases) passed
the Vigil, many joining in our dancing and signing our petitions. We sold out of
our stock of ‘Mugabe must go’ bracelets.
·
We had with us a
student from Edinburgh making his second visit to talk to people at the Vigil
about what motivated exiles to keep working for change in their home countries.
He is preparing a documentary film and he remarked how friendly and helpful
people at the Vigil were.
·
The distressed lady
we looked after last week was put in touch with her family and is now in
hospital for treatment. She phoned us today to thank the the Vigil for our
help.
For
latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 38
signed the register.
EVENTS
AND NOTICES:
·
Next
Swaziland Vigil.
Saturday 29th December from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High
Commission, 20 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi
friends. Nearest stations: St James’s Park and Victoria. www.swazilandvigil.co.uk.
·
Zimbabwe
Vigil Highlights 2011 can be
viewed on this link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The
Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the
Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for
the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the
Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises
through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of
ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website
claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the views and
opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The
Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim
Vigil band (Farai
Marema and Dumi Tutani). To download the band’s theme song Vigil Yedu visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch other Zim
Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil
Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
· To
sponsor the Mike Campbell Foundation expedition ‘Sailing across the Makgadikgadi
Pans’ which will raise money for the work of the Foundation, go to www.justgiving.com/Mike-Campbell-Foundation.
·
Useful
websites: www.zanupfcrime.com which reports on Zanu PF
abuses and www.ipaidabribe.org.zw where people can report
corruption in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The
Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights
in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
COURT WATCH 22/2012
[15th December 2012]
Court News
Court Closure for Holidays
The Supreme Court and the High Court started their six-week Christmas
“court vacation” on 1st December. The
vacation will end when the first court term of 2013 begins on Monday 14th
January 2013. The 2013 court calendars
for the Labour Court, Supreme Court and High Court have just been re-gazetted in
GNs 605/2012 and 606/2012 [available from veritas@mango.zw].
During the vacation no appeals, trials and contested court applications will be
heard. This does not mean that all the
judges will be on holiday for the whole of the period. Duty judges will be available at all times to
deal with urgent matters and chamber applications. Since 1st December, for example, High Court
Judge-President Chiweshe sitting in chambers dealt
with the latest episode in the Kunonga/Anglican Church
case, and in the Supreme Court a chamber application has been heard for bail for
accused persons in the Glen View murder case.
Circuit Courts Revived in Magistrates
Courts
The Judicial Service Commission has announced that since it took over
the administration of the judicial service in 2010, it has succeeded in
reactivating 37 magistrates circuit courts. These courts had been shut down in
2008 owing to lack of resources and essential staff. All 50 prescribed circuit courts are now
operational. Circuit court arrangements
permit resident magistrates to hold court periodically – say, once a week – in
remote parts of their magisterial districts, eliminating the expense and
inconvenience involved in witnesses and police having to travel long distances
for court hearings and bringing justice closer to home.
Justices of Peace for Attorney General’s
Office
In accordance with a previous long-standing practice, the Attorney
General, his three Deputy Attorneys-General and 15 State Counsel Grades I and II
have been gazetted as Justices of the Peace by the co-Ministers of Home
Affairs. Under the Justices of the Peace
and Commissioners of Oaths Act, Justices of the Peace are ex officio
commissioners of oaths and also have powers to have disturbers of the peace
arrested. Under the Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act they also have power to issue arrest warrants, search warrants
and warrants for further detention of arrested persons. But, unlike English Justices of the Peace,
they do not judge cases in courts.
Two recent High
Court Judgements Available
The By-Elections Case: The President v Bhebhe, Mguni and Mpofu
Note: The official text of
Judge President Chiweshe’s latest judgement in the
High Court in the by-elections case has become available. It contains the reasons for his decision of
17th October [see summary of third High Court case below] which extended the
deadline to the 31st March 2013 for
by-elections to be called.
Background In August 2009 three sitting MPs lost their
House of Assembly seats after their expulsion from the party [then MDC-M] on
whose ticket they had been elected in the 2008 general election. Under the Constitution and the Electoral Act,
the President should have promptly called by-elections to fill the
vacancies. But, as with the many other
Parliamentary vacancies that have arisen since July 2008, no by-elections were
called.
Summary of Cases [see
Court Watch 14/2012 of 28th July and Bill Watch 43/2011 of 14th October 2011 for
more detail]
First
High Court decision In mid-2010 the three former MPs, wanting to
seek re-election in their former constituencies, applied to the High Court for
an order compelling the President to call by-elections. Despite the President’s opposition, Justice
Ndou granted an order in October 2011 directing the
President to gazette dates for all three
by-elections within fourteen days. The
President appealed to the Supreme Court.
Supreme
Court decision In July 2012, the Supreme Court, after
hearing full argument, rejected the President’s arguments and dismissed the
appeal, but altered the High Court order’s out-of-date 2011 deadline and gave
the President until the end of August 2012 to act. Under the altered High Court order the
President was “ordered to publish in the
Gazette a notice ordering new elections to fill the vacancies as soon as
possible but by no later than 30 August 2012”. The Supreme Court said its reasons for its
decision would be handed down later, but they have still not been released.
Second
High Court decision At the end of August, just before the Supreme
Court’s deadline expired, the President applied to the High Court for an order
extending to the 1st October “the period
within which to comply with” the deadline set by the Supreme Court. Mr Bhebhe and his
fellow would-be MPs consented to this being done, and the extension was granted
by Justice Chiweshe on that basis. Because the three agreed to the extension,
there was no need for written reasons for judgment to be given.
Third
High Court decision At the end of September the President applied
to the High Court for another extension, this time to 31st March 2013. The affidavit justifying the request was made
by Justice and Legal Affairs
Minister Patrick Chinamasa; it explained in detail
that the reason for the application was that the Government was “yet to mobilise the resources with which to
conduct the three by-elections”, i.e., a repetition of the reason given in
August.
This time there was spirited opposition from Mr Bhebhe and his colleagues, but Justice Chiweshe, on 17th October, granted the President’s
application and gave the President until 31st March 2013 to gazette dates for
by-elections, saying his written judgment would follow. [This
is the judgment now available and summarised below.]
Justice Chiweshe’s Judgment [available from veritas@mango.zw]
Jurisdiction Justice Chiweshe dismissed the argument that he had no jurisdiction
to extend a deadline ordered by the Supreme Court. He said that the Supreme Court had merely
altered Justice Ndou’s original order without
substantially changing its nature; Justice Ndou’s
order therefore remained extant as a High Court order, meaning that the High
Court accordingly had a discretion “on
good cause shown” to extend the time within which it own order should be
executed.
President’s explanation for delay accepted as
“reasonable” Having first stated that “it stands to reason that without resources
the by-elections cannot be held notwithstanding any order of this court to the
contrary”, Justice Chiweshe held that the President had shown good cause for an
extension by demonstrating that the Government lacked the necessary resources to
conduct by-elections.. No reason had
been advanced to doubt the averment in Mr Chinamasa’s
affidavit to that effect. The judge
likened this to a plea of impossibility of performance, and constituted a
reasonable basis for granting an extension.
Objection to the Chinamasa affidavit
dismissed There was an objection to the acceptance of Mr Chinamasa’s affidavit,
because he had not produced written authority to testify on behalf of the
President. Justice Chiweshe dismissed the objection, ruling that by virtue of
his Ministerial position Mr Chinamasa had authority to
speak for the President. He also
dismissed an objection that the application did not qualify as “urgent”.
Appeal noted Dissatisfied, Mr Bhebhe, Mr Mguni and Mr Mpofu noted an appeal to the Supreme Court. Their grounds of appeal include the point
that as a High Court judge Justice Chiweshe had no
power to cannot modify a Supreme Court decision. The hearing of the appeal cannot take place
until the first court term of 2013, which starts on 14th
January.
Comment: Perhaps the noting of the appeal will spur the Supreme Court
to speed up the release of its written judgment giving the reasons for its
decision of 12th July. As the
Government’s claimed lack of the financial resources needed to conduct
by-elections was one of the grounds put to the Supreme Court when it first heard
this case, current arguments between the parties’ lawyers about the relevance or
otherwise of this excuse are taking place without the parties knowing the
Supreme Court’s thinking on it.
Illegal confiscation of property by CIO: The Farai Maguwu
Case
Background Farai Maguwu is the director of the Centre for Research and Development, a Zimbabwean
advocacy group well-known for its documentation of human rights abuses in the
Marange diamond field. In September 2011 he went to Harare
International Airport en route to a Human Rights Defenders conference in
Ireland. After checking in for his
flight and passing through immigration formalities, he was intercepted by a man
and a woman in civilian dress who refused to identify themselves, but later
turned out to be CIO agents. Without
giving reasons, they searched his person and luggage, and without providing any
warrant of seizure or inventory, seized and retained his boarding pass and
certain items of property, including laptop, wallet, US $2000 and camera. Forced to abandon his flight, Mr Maguwu reported the incident to the police and made an
urgent application to the High Court to recover his property. He was granted a provisional order for the
return of his property pending the hearing of an application for a final order
to declare the seizure unlawful and to compel the disclosure of the identities
of the two CIO agents. The provisional
order was directed to, among others, Minister Sekeramayi, the Minister of State for State Security, under whose authority the
CIO falls.
The property was not returned and the Minister opposed Mr Maguwu’s application for a final order. He disputed Mr Maguwu’s claims as to what had been confiscated [denying
taking of the valuables], claimed that his department had received intelligence
information that Mr Maguwu was going to Ireland to
“subvert the government of Zimbabwe” and claimed there was nothing legally wrong in any of the actions
taken by his agents.
Justice Mathonsi rejects CIO
defence
Justice Mathonsi was not impressed by the
Minister’s opposition. He rejected the
Minister’s evidence that Mr Maguwu’s laptop and other
valuables had not been seized, declared the seizure of all his property by the
State agents “wrongful, unlawful and unjustified” and ordered its return. A
person's property, said the judge, can only be seized under the authority of the
law, and neither the Minister nor his lawyer had been able to cite any law
giving the CIO agents such authority [full judgment available from veritas@mango.zw].
CIO must comply with the law Referring to the Minister’s
reliance on State security and the fact that the CIO does not operate under any
law, Justice Mathonsi said: “Zimbabwe is a democratic country which subscribes to the law
... State security is undeniably paramount, but what is done in pursuit
of State security must be justifiable in a democratic society and must conform
to the rule of law”.
On the facts, the judge said
the Minister had “flatly refused to disclose the identity of the State agents who
conducted the seizure” and had contented himself with “hedging behind vague allegations of subverting the Government.”
He had failed to demonstrate
any basis for action under the State’s general powers of seizure in terms of
section 49 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which requires the
existence of reasonable grounds for suspecting the commission of an offence.
Note: One of the disputed issues in the Roadmap to Elections is the
MDC-T’s demand for the enactment of an Act of Parliament to regulate the CIO and
subject it to Parliamentary oversight.
The COPAC draft constitution does not make such an Act essential, but
says there must be either an Act or a Presidential or Cabinet directive or order establishing the CIO;
and also that the CIO “must be non-partisan, national in character, patriotic,
professional and subordinate to the civilian authority”.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure
reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information
supplied.