Britain, US step up pressure on Zimbabwe's Mugabe

http://www.miamiherald.com/

Posted on Monday, 12.22.08

By MICHELLE FAUL
Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Britain and the United States increased
pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, accusing him of
presiding over the country's economic collapse blamed for a cholera outbreak
that has killed more than 1,000.

But the calls are more likely to harden the stance of Mugabe, who does not
want to be seen as bowing to demands from white Westerners.

Britain's Africa Minister Mark Malloch Brown said Monday that Mugabe must
retire for a power-sharing government to succeed in the former British
colony facing a mounting economic and humanitarian crisis.

He told BBC radio that Mugabe was incapable of making good on a deal reached
in September to govern alongside opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible
obstacle to achieving it," Malloch Brown said. "He's so distrusted by all
sides that I think the Americans are absolutely right - he's going to have
to step aside."

The remarks came a day after the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi
Frazer, said Washington can no longer support a Zimbabwean deal that leaves
Mugabe in office as president. Also stepping up pressure, the Roman Catholic
Bishops Conference of Southern Africa called for Africans and especially
regional giant South Africa "to isolate Mugabe completely."

But Mugabe, once considered a hero among African freedom fighters, has
shrugged off such criticism, drawing many Africans to his side with claims
he is fighting a Western imperialist plot.

"The only likelihood is that they (African leaders) will harden in their
stand against so-called Western imperialism," said John Makumbe, a political
science professor in Zimbabwe. "I think (Mugabe) actually enjoys all that
pressure and sees it as giving him the limelight."

African leaders are also wary of being seen as simply following the U.S. and
now the British lead. Frazer on Sunday acknowledged that stepping up the
pressure against Mugabe could backfire. But she said it was a risk worth
taking, because "at some point we have to say what we really believe."

Mugabe, 84, has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from Britain
and refused to leave office following disputed elections in March.

He has faced renewed criticism amid a humanitarian crisis that has pushed
millions of Zimbabweans to the point of starvation and spawned a cholera
epidemic that has killed more than 1,000 people since August.

President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy all have called for Mugabe to step down.

Those few Africans who have spoken out against him have been denounced as
"lackeys" obeying the orders of white masters. The Catholic bishops said it
was time for that to stop.

"Some African leaders, to their shame, have felt it necessary to stand in
solidarity with Mugabe against the supposed machinations of former colonial
and present imperial powers; it is time for them to redirect their
solidarity towards the needs of the suffering people of this once-thriving
country," they said Sunday.

Britain and the United States keep urging African governments, especially
those in southern Africa, to take concerted action against Mugabe. But there
is little they can do to put pressure on the Africans.

"I think this is a hardening of rhetoric by the U.S. and the U.K., but I
don't think that is reflected in the thinking of the Southern African
Development Community, or the African Union," said Alex Vines, head of the
Africa program at London's Chatham House think tank.

Meanwhile, he thinks "the impasse will continue."

On Friday, an ever-defiant Mugabe declared that "Zimbabwe is mine," saying
only Zimbabweans can remove him from power and that no African nation is
brave enough to wrest it from him.

"The real pressure will have to come from within Zimbabwe, through civic
action, through the military rioting, work boycotts by teachers, the nurses
and the doctors to keep the hospitals and schools closed," Makumbe said.

Zimbabwe, once the region's breadbasket, has seen its agricultural sector
collapse under Mugabe. There are chronic shortages of everything including
food, medicine, fuel and cash.

Critics blame Mugabe's policies for the nation's ruin. Mugabe blames Western
sanctions, though the European Union and U.S. sanctions are targeted only at
Mugabe and dozens of his clique with frozen bank accounts and travel bans.

This month, soldiers rioted in downtown Harare when they could not withdraw
their salaries from banks that ran out of cash; all the main hospitals in
Harare are closed, because staff have not been paid or because they have no
medication.

The bishops called for South Africa's President Kgalema Motlanthe "to stop
immediately all collusion with Mugabe and to cut off any lifeblood that
South Africa is offering him." Specifically, they suggested cutting fuel and
electricity supplies to landlocked Zimbabwe.

Last month, Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani called for African
nations to close their borders with Zimbabwe, saying it would bring Mugabe
down in just a week or two.

But South Africa maintains the answer for Zimbabwe is power-sharing, not
ousting Mugabe.

Malloch Brown suggested that Mugabe might be moved by a promise of immunity
from international prosecution for alleged crimes against humanity.

"I think that if President Mugabe was to come to the U.K. and the U.S. or
other third parties - African neighbors - and say 'I'll go if I can be
offered a quiet retirement,' I expect people would look at what's possible,"
he told the BBC.

Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed from London.

Rice to consult allies about Zimbabwe sanctions

25 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that
she will consult US allies about imposing international asset freezes and
other sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

"I am going to consult with our allies, particularly with some of our
African allies and with the British and we will see," Rice told AFP in an
interview when asked whether the United Nations could still impose
sanctions.

"But I think it high time that the international community step up the
sanctions on this regime," Rice said after the UN Security Council failed to
take action at meetings she attended in New York last week.

"I don't know how much longer people can let this go on, claiming that it is
somehow an internal matter. It is not," the chief US diplomat said.

"It is clearly having caused problems across the border and even if it were
an internal matter, what is happening to the Zimbawean people is
unconscionable," she added.

"We (the United States) have as you know some asset freezes and the likes
and there has been some discussions about whether some of that might be
multilateralized," Rice said when asked about possible actions.

"So we will look at this," Rice added.

UN warns 5.5m Zimbabweans need food, collapse of health system

http://news.yahoo.com

HARARE (AFP) - About half of Zimbabwe's population needs food aid, UN
experts said Monday, as a first consignment of supplies designed to help
fight a cholera epidemic arrived in the troubled southern African nation.

As President Robert Mugabe faced fresh calls to step down from Western
powers, the UN's warning highlighted yet another crisis facing Zimbabwe as
it also battles a deadly cholera epidemic and runaway inflation.

And in a further bid to tighten the screw on Mugabe, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said she planned to lobby Washington's allies to impose
sanctions against the regime in Harare.

"An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance," said the UN's
special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutterhe, in a joint
statement from four senior UN officials.

There was "just not enough food" in the country of around 12 million which
was once the bread basket of Africa, he added, calling on Zimbabwe's
government and the international community for increased help.

In the same statement, the special rapporteur on health rights, Anand Grover
said the country's medical services could not control the cholera outbreak,
which has killed more than 1,120.

"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed. It cannot control the
cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily
increase in the death toll," he said.

As the UN experts sounded the alarm bells, the children's fund UNICEF was
delivering its first consignment of aid -- intravenous fluids, drip
equipment, essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits -- to boost
government services in the fight against cholera.

"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF
acting representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch.

Once seen as a post-colonial role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in a
downward spiral since the turn of the decade when thousands of white-owned
farms began being seized under a controversial land reform programme.

Food production has since plummetted and inflation has skyrocketed, hitting
231 percent when the last official data was released in August.

Zimbabwe has also been in political crisis since elections in March when the
long-ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament and Mugabe was pushed
into second place by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a poll for
president.

Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of a
run-off after scores of his supporters were killed.

A power-sharing agreement signed by the two rivals in September was seen as
an opportunity for the country to turn a corner but it has yet to be
implemented amid disagreements over the control of key organs of state.

Under the terms of the power-sharing deal, Mugabe would remain president
with Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.

But with Mugabe now declaring that Zimbabwe is "mine", both the United
States and former colonial power Britain have the deal will be unacceptable
as unless the 84-year-old Mugabe leaves office.

"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible
obstacle to achieving it," said Britain's Africa minister Mark Malloch
Brown.

"He's so distrusted by all sides that I think the Americans are absolutely
right, he's going to have to step aside."

Malloch-Brown's comments came a day after the top US diplomat for Africa,
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, said Washington would not
restore aid to the cholera-wracked country unless Mugabe stood down.

In an interview with AFP, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she
would consult Washington's allies about imposing international asset freezes
and other sanctions against the Mugabe regime which Washington has already
put in place.

"I am going to consult with our allies, particularly with some of our
African allies and with the British and we will see," Rice said.

"But I think it high time that the international community step up the
sanctions on this regime."

Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation ever since independence in
1980, has made clear that he has no intention of standing down.

In a defiant weekend speech at ZANU-PF's annual conference, he vowed that he
would "never, never surrender" and that "Zimbabwe is mine."

Western calls have little impact on Zimbabwe

http://www.ft.com

By Richard Lapper in Johannesburg and Tony Hawkins in Harare

Published: December 22 2008 19:30 | Last updated: December 22 2008 19:30

The international pressure on Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, is
growing, but there is no sign yet that the 85-year-old leader is any nearer
to relinquishing control of a country that is plunging ever deeper into
economic chaos and humanitarian crisis.

Mr Mugabe in  fact has been as belligerent as ever. After telling the annual
congress of his Zanu-PF party on Sunday that he would “never, never, never
surrender”, he again blamed foreigners for his country’s problems and called
for “a real economic revolutionary council to take control of Zimbabwe’s
mining, manufacturing and banking sectors”.

Both the US and the European Union appear to have given up hope that Mr
Mugabe is prepared to share power with the Movement for Democratic Change,
the opposition party that won the first round of general elections in March
but was forced to withdraw from a second round after a wave of violence
against its activists and supporters.
The problem is that unless they are able to persuade South Africa, Zimbabwe’s
main economic partner, to apply pressure, there is relatively little the
western powers can do. The extension of so-called targeted sanctions by the
EU, a measure mooted by the UK on Monday, would be likely to have only the
most limited effect. “They don’t change the game plan at all,” said Adam
Habib, a political analyst and deputy vice-chancellor at the University of
Johannesburg.

By contrast, decisive action by South Africa would probably make a real
difference. The bulk of Zimbabwe’s exports and imports use South African
transport links, and between two-thirds and three-quarters of its fuel comes
through its southern neighbour.

Together, South Africa, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo
provide as much as half of Zimbabwe’s electricity requirements. Were South
Africa to cut off supplies, Zimbabwe would lose a fifth, and perhaps more,
of current supplies, which are already inadequate to keep the economy
ticking over.

Moreover, two of the biggest exporters in Zimbabwe, Impala Platinum and
Aquarius mining, as well as three of the largest banking groups – accounting
for at least half of banking activity – and a string of other companies in
sectors ranging from clothing to beer are effectively managed and controlled
from South Africa.

As Sydney Masamvu, of the International Crisis Group in Johannesburg, puts
it: “South Africa is the beginning and the end of the crisis in Zimbabwe.”

So far, South Africa has been unwilling to act. Although Kgalema Motlanthe,
the president, has made disbursement of a R300m ($30m, £20m, €22m)
agricultural donation dependent on formation of a unity government between
Mr Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, more radical measures have
been rejected. That is partly because South African leaders put as much
blame on Mr Tsvangirai for Zimbabwe’s political impasse as on Mr Mugabe.

To complicate matters, South African leaders insist all diplomatic efforts
must be channelled through the Southern African Development Community, some
of whose 15 members are still relatively close to the Zimbabwean leader.

While Ian Khama, Botswana’s president, has called for military intervention
to oust Mr Mugabe, such calls fall on deaf ears elsewhere.

Mr Habib reckons that Namibia and Angola would both be prepared to help Mr
Mugabe bypass sanctions, in much the way South Africa helped Ian Smith,
prime minister of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) under white minority rule in the
1960s and 1970s.He doubts whether any of the SADC states have the
administrative capacity to
make sanctions effective, and believes US and UK calls for action could be
counter-productive, since they would aggravate divisions within the group
and reduce its ability to orchestrate diplomatic pressure.

Barack Obama must urgently spearhead an African-led movement for change in Zimbabwe

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Richard Beeston | December 23, 2008

Article from:  The Australian
ZIMBABWE is on its knees, but Robert Mugabe's grip on power is unshaken. So
how much longer must this tragedy continue? Until Zimbabwe's neighbours are
forced to act out of self-interest when millions of desperate refugees, some
infected with cholera, pour across their borders? Until Mugabe dies
peacefully in his palace? Until one of his cronies decides to seize power
for himself? If the world is serious about defending human rights and
democracy, then there are real opportunities at hand.

Barack Obama will be sworn in as US president next month. There are many
demands being made of him, but he must be urged at the highest level to act
immediately on Zimbabwe.

As a half-African whose grandfather was part of the liberation movement
against the British in Kenya, he has huge support on the continent; some of
the more courageous countries, such as Kenya, Zambia and Botswana, have
already broken ranks to condemn Zimbabwe and demand change. Obama must
galvanise this movement. Above all he must use all the considerable weight
of his office to pressure South Africa, the critical power in the region, to
stop shielding Mugabe.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's likely next president, must be told in
unambiguous terms that removing Mugabe must be his top priority. If not,
South Africa's relations with the US and Europe will be set back at every
level, from aid to trade and even the football World Cup Final in 2010.

For too long, former South African president Thabo Mbeki was allowed a seat
at the top table of international affairs while neglecting his primary
responsibility to the wellbeing of his neighbours in Zimbabwe.

If force is needed -- for instance, to protect relief efforts to rescue
millions from disease and hunger -- then South Africa must be ready to weigh
in. The US and Britain must be ready to assist any African-led operation
with logistics and money.

Zimbabwe is still salvageable, but not if Mugabe is still around in 2010.

The Times

Death toll from humanitarian disaster reaches genocidal levels

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
22 December 2008

Emergency appeals by international aid organisations to tackle the
devastating humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe have reached urgent levels, as
the shocking and rising number of deaths in the country becomes clearer.

In a country ravaged by critical food shortages and a deadly cholera
outbreak, it has been almost impossible to keep track of the untold
thousands of people dying from hunger and disease. Official figures given by
the United Nations claim that the deaths from cholera alone have reached
more than a 1000, but combined with the very real threat of starvation,
Zimbabwe's death toll from the humanitarian disaster is reaching genocidal
proportions.

The unofficial cholera death toll was speculated to have reached well beyond
the 3000 mark by last month and the figure is said to be rising daily.
Relief agencies were last week still struggling to contain the devastating
outbreak in Chegutu, which has so far claimed at least 160 lives in less
than two weeks, while the Daily Mail in the UK this weekend reported that
gravediggers at one cemetery in Harare alone were burying 31 child cholera
victims every week.

At the same time, up to 5 million people are said to be already starving,
amid more speculation that between 15 and 20 thousand people are dying from
starvation and hunger related diseases a month. A recent media report quoted
a nurse from the Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital, who said an average
of 13 people a day die there, with the nurse explaining that most patients
had clear signs of malnutrition.

The death toll from cholera and hunger does not include those Zimbabweans
whose lives have been cut short by HIV/AIDS, a crisis that the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) has said claims more than 400 adult lives every day.
Meanwhile, illnesses that are simple to treat in a functioning society have
now become life threatening, as Zimbabwe's health system has completely
collapsed. A handful of clinics are now said to be servicing an entire
nation that needs medical treatment, after the majority of hospitals and
clinics in the country were closed recently due to a lack of staff and
supplies. The situation means thousands more people have been left dead and
dying, from ordinary, treatable illnesses.

Robert Mugabe's government has made concerted efforts to keep the figures
under close guard, but with more than half the population under real threat,
it is becoming daily more clear that urgent intervention is needed to stop
the senseless loss of life. Oxfam, the Red Cross and now UNICEF are the
latest aid groups issuing emergency appeals to tackle the crisis at a human
level, with UNICEF embarking on a US$17 million emergency programme over the
next 120 days.

UNICEF's first ever airlift of critical emergency supplies to Zimbabwe
landed at Harare on Monday. The cargo - which includes intravenous fluids,
drip equipment and essential drugs - will help boost the group's cholera
response. One more planeload was expected to arrive at midnight on Monday
and supplies will be distributed to the over 40 cholera treatment centres
across Zimbabwe, and to the remaining functional health facilities.

Zimbabwe: Areas Affected by Cholera Outbreaks (August - November 2008) showing locations of Cholera Treatment Centres/Units (as of 12 Dec 2008)

• Date: 12 Dec 2008
• Type: Natural Disaster
• Keyword(s): Affected Population; Epidemic; Health
• Format:
  
  PDF *, 1014 Kb
  
  
  (*)Get Adobe Acrobat Viewer (free) 

• Source(s):
  - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

UNICEF airlifts cholera and health supplies to Zimbabwe

http://www.unicef.org

HARARE, 22 December 2008 - UNICEF's first ever airlift of critical emergency
supplies to Zimbabwe has landed in Harare, as Zimbabwe grapples with cholera
and a collapsing health system.

The cargo - which includes intravenous (IV) fluids, drip equipment,
essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits - will boost the UN Children's
Fund cholera response and aid government to deliver some essential health
services to expecting mothers.

"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF
Acting Representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch.  "We are already
supplying 70 percent of the country's essential drugs, and these airlifted
supplies will further boost UNICEF's lifesaving support."

Supported by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and
the Dutch government, the 140 metric tonne consignment provides intravenous
and oral re-hydration supplies which are the first line of treatment in any
management of cholera. The supplies also include essential midwifery kits
for pregnant women.

"We are pleased to be helping with this effort as part of our US$15m package
of support to the cholera epidemic and the wider crisis in the Zimbabwe
health service," said the Head of DFID Zimbabwe, Mr Phil Evans. "Saving
lives is the most immediate priority, but a fundamental solution to the
deeper crisis is also needed as a matter of urgency."

More than 1100 people have already died from cholera and nearly 24 000 cases
have been reported in Zimbabwe. The situation is worsened by a health crisis
characterized by the closure of major hospitals, a critical lack of drugs
and equipment, and nurses and doctors not able to come to work. The combined
result is the poor management of cholera cases and serious risks to women
and children during child birth.

According to Joseph Weterings, the Dutch ambassador in Zimbabwe, the
Government of the Netherlands is "deeply concerned by the entrenched
humanitarian crisis that has led to tremendous suffering for the people of
Zimbabwe". In view of the collapse of  basic social services and in
particular the spread of cholera and the worsening food situation the
Netherlands has allocated an additional US$11,7 million in humanitarian aid
to Zimbabwe. This comes in addition to the US$15 million already made
available to Zimbabwe this year.

One more plane load will arrive at midnight later today and supplies will be
distributed through the over 40 cholera treatment centres across Zimbabwe
and the remaining functional health facilities.

UNICEF continues to intensify relief efforts around the cholera crisis,
supplying more than half a million litres of safe drinking water every day,
together with 3,800 tonnes of treatment chemicals for all urban areas in
Zimbabwe as well as a range of other life saving intervention during the
current emergency.

Cholera spreading in South Africa, deaths reported in Johannesburg

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Health News
Dec 22, 2008, 14:34 GMT

Johannesburg - South African authorities reported new cholera deaths in the
province surrounding Johannesburg, indicating that the spread of the disease
from Zimbabwe is becoming more pronounced.

One person had died of cholera over the weekend, bringing the province's
death count to three, Chika Asomugha, spokesman for the health department of
Gauteng Province, told the South African Press Association (SAPA) on Monday.

Gauteng, home to both the city's economic centre of Johannesburg and the
national capital of Pretoria, now has 21 positively identified cases of
cholera, with the heaviest concentration in the Johannesburg district.

The disease is also making gains in the Limpopo Province, which borders
Zimbabwe. Cholera has reached epidemic levels in Zimbabwe, where an ongoing
financial and political crisis has left authorities unable to combat the
disease or even implement basic hygienic standards which could normally curb
the disease's spread.

According to Limpopo Province spokesman Phuthi Seloba, as quoted by SAPA,
the disease has now spread to the province's most vulnerable areas, with new
cases reported almost every day.

The province's death toll has held steady at eight. But the border town of
Musina has recorded 15 new cases since Sunday, bringing the total number
there to 909, including five people who remain hospitalized.

Other parts of the province, including Botlokwa, Madimbo, Dilokong and
Knobel have also recorded new cases.

Seloba said health officials were finding it hard to spread awareness about
the disease.

'We also still have some people who insist that they are ill because they
ate meat from a sick cow when told they have cholera,' he said. 'This is the
kind of thinking that we are working against.'

The United Nations has reported more than 1,100 deaths and 24,000 infected
from cholera in Zimbabwe.

Health officials are worried that there could be further outbreaks of the
disease in both Zimbabwe and South Africa over the Christmas holidays, when
Zimbabweans who live in South Africa return home to visit relatives, perhaps
risking infection and the further spread of the disease.

More than 42 people abducted countrywide in last two months

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Violet Gonda
17 December 2008

Last Friday MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai made a shocking revelation that 42
people have been abducted in the last two months and their whereabouts are
still unknown. Up until then it had been reported that 26 people had
disappeared, although it was believed that not all the cases of abduction
had come to light.

Human rights lawyers say the sad reality is that many abductions are taking
place in rural areas, making it difficult to find out the information,
because of the collapse of all structures in Zimbabwe. The lawyers also say
the level of fear is now so great that many of the victims' families are not
speaking out. Some have already been placed in safe houses as the reign of
terror continues.

Most of those missing are MDC activists, such as Chris Dlamini the party's
Director of Security, and Ghandi Mudzingwa, Morgan Tsvangirai's former aide.
Others are from civil society, including Jestina Mukoko and two of her
colleagues from the Zimbabwe Peace Project. Photojournalist Shadreck
Andrisson Manyere is also still missing.

Lawyers have managed to get several High Court Orders to try to force the
police to investigate the abductions, but none of these court orders have
been complied with - so it is the police who are completely ignoring the
rule of law.

The latest court order was granted last week in the case of the missing
photojournalist. But Manyere's lawyer, Andrew Makoni, said that as in the
Mukoko case, the court ordered the police to flight adverts in the local
media and institute thorough investigations, but they have done nothing.

Furthermore in the Manyere case, the lawyer said he could not find the
respondents - the Police Commissioner and the Home Affairs Minister - to
serve them with the court orders.  The lawyer hoped to track down the
respondents on Tuesday because Monday was a public holiday in Zimbabwe.

"The police have not complied fully in respect of Jestina Mukoko's case. It
would be a miracle to see them complying with this particular order," Makoni
said.

However, although the police still deny responsibility for the abductions,
some of the victims' families have named officers from the Criminal
Investigations Department (CID) who have searched their homes and the Peace
Project offices.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa has been investigating the various
abductions and has been speaking to some of the relatives of the victims,
their lawyers and MDC officials.  It is alleged that Inspectors Chitake,
Makedenge and Mapuranga from CID have been at the forefront of the
abductions and searches in some of the victims' homes.

The three police officers are notorious and are accused of spearheading this
campaign which has been code named "Operation Chimumumu" (operation shut
them up).

Meanwhile Tsvangirai has warned he will suspend all negotiations and contact
with Zanu PF, if abductions do not cease and if all the abductees are not
released or charged in a court of law by New Year. It awaits to be seen if
the victims will be released by January 1st, as the regime continues to
clampdown against opponents.

Observers say it also awaits to be seen how the guarantors of the power
sharing deal will react. They say already SADC chose to go to Botswana to
investigate claims by the Mugabe regime that the next door neighbour was
training MDC 'bandits', but SADC could not find the time or the interest to
send a commission to investigate the abductions.

PRESS RELEASE: UN Must Address Government's Rape Campaign in Zimbabwe

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Monday, 22 December 2008

UN Security Council Must Hold Emergency Session on Government's Rape
Campaign in Zimbabwe

Boston, USA - December 5, 2008:  AIDS-Free World has appealed to the
United Nations Security Council for an emergency session on Zimbabwe in
order to prevent President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party from waging a
second campaign of rape and sexual torture in order to crush political
opposition and regain absolute power.  The full text of the letter to the 15
members of the Security Council is attached and below.

For further information, contact Christina Magill

TEL: +1-416-657-4458

Mugabe Said to Prepare to Nationalize Mines, Banks

http://www.bloomberg.com

By Brian Latham

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is preparing to
take over key businesses in mining, banking and manufacturing as his
international isolation deepens, two members of the ruling party's politburo
said.

The 84-year-old leader told supporters in the northeastern town of Bindura
yesterday that he may form an "Economic Revolutionary Council" to overcome
sanctions, the officials from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic
Front party said. They declined to be identified because the discussions
were mostly among the party's leadership.

Such plans suggest that Mugabe doesn't plan to bow to calls to step down as
the economy collapses and cholera spreads. Yesterday Jendayi Frazer, the top
U.S. envoy for Africa, said that Mugabe has "lost it" and "credible power
sharing" with him isn't possible. Zimbabwe is in its tenth year of
recession, with an annual inflation rate of more 230 million percent and an
unemployment rate more than 80 percent.

The emergency measures would seek to curb inflation and lift productivity,
which has slumped to less than 10 percent of manufacturing capacity, the
officials said after attending the Zanu-PF's annual congress. These would
include nationalizing banks, mines and factories and could go as far as
declaring a state of emergency, they said.

Impala, Rio Tinto

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world's second-biggest platinum producer,
and Rio Tinto Group, the world's third- largest mining company, own assets
in the country. Barclays Bank Plc and Standard Chartered Plc operate in
Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean government has already said it plans to force foreign
companies to sell 51 percent of their assets to black Zimbabweans. It is yet
to implement that decision.

Calls to the offices and mobile phones of Mugabe's spokesman, George
Charamba, Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and Information Minister,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, weren't answered.

While Zimbabwe is not the subject of formal economic sanctions, the U.S. and
the European Union have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and
his allies.

Mugabe has resisted a power-sharing agreement brokered by former South
African President Thabo Mbeki in September after presidential run-off
elections in June were boycotted by the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change. Talks over enacting the deal have stalled because of his refusal to
give up key ministries.

Calls from neighboring South Africa for Mugabe to quit are growing.

Mugabe's neighbors should cut off supplies of commodities to force political
change, said Mosioua Lekota, the leader of the South Africa's Congress of
the People party, known as Cope. Cope was formed by dissidents from the
ruling African National Congress after Mbeki was ousted as president. Lekota
is a former ANC chairman and defense minister.

"It's no good to mouth beautiful slogans, there must be implementation,"
Lekota said in an interview in Johannesburg yesterday. "Simply refusing
supplies of commodities" to Zimbabwe could spur political change.

World Must Help Rebuild Health, Food Systems - UN Experts

UN News Service

22 December 2008

Four independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the
Government of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild
the country's health system, end the worst cholera epidemic ever recorded
there and ensure adequate food for all people as millions face hunger.

"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed - it cannot control the
cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily
increase in the death toll," the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone
to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, Anand Grover,
said of the epidemic which has already infected 20,000 people, killing over
1,100.

"New cholera cases are being reported with no medical system or staff with
the capacity to contain the epidemic," he added.

The experts, whose comments ranged over a wide range of issues from lack of
clean water and food to the unjustified use of force by the authorities and
civil rights abuses, expressed particular concern about the closure of the
main public hospitals due to lack of medical supplies and health
professionals.

They also highlighted the shortage of anti-retroviral therapies and
essential medicines to treat acute diseases, stressing that the
participation of communities was crucial for the development and
implementation of plans to rebuild the failing health system and warning
that the situation was becoming disastrous and was likely to deteriorate as
the rainy season approached.

"There is no access to clean water sources and the country is faced with
poor sanitation and meagre waste disposal and management infrastructure,
greatly exacerbating the incidence of the disease," the Independent Expert
on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking
water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, said, noting that unsafe
drinking water is also contributing to severe malnutrition.

The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, warned
there was just not enough food at the national or household level. "An
estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance. Food and agricultural
production have decreased drastically. With rising unemployment, and
hyperinflation due to several years of economic instability, people have
been suffering for too long in Zimbabwe; their right to adequate food has to
be fulfilled now."

Ongoing violations of civil and political rights make it harder for the
authorities and the people of Zimbabwe to unite and cooperate with the
international community to tackle the humanitarian crisis, the experts
stressed.

"The crisis is compounded by the use of unjustified force by the authorities
in response to peaceful demonstrations and the recent abductions of human
rights defenders," the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, said.

The Rapporteurs, who are independent unpaid experts reporting to the UN
Human Rights Council in Geneva, noted that Zimbabwe had one of the best
public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and was considered its
'breadbasket.'

"Stable systems for providing access to health, water, sanitation and food
must be restored and respect for civil, cultural, economic, political and
social rights assured," they added, reiterating their willingness to work
with the Government and the international community to find urgent solutions
to these problems.

Fraser suggests power cuts for Zimbabwe

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au

Last Updated: 1 hour 45 minutes ago

Former Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, is urging South Africa to
cut off electricity supplies to Zimbabwe.

He says world leaders should be putting more pressure on South Africa and
Nigeria to force Zimbabwe's leader, Robert Mugabe, to stand down.

Mr Fraser developed a friendship with Mr Mugabe during his time as
Australian prime minister, between 1975 and 1983, but has recently spoken
out against Zimbabwe's leader.

A cholera outbreak has reportedly killed more than 1,000 people, the latest
crisis to hit a country suffering hyper-inflation and food shortages.

The former PM says African nations must take the lead in forcing a change of
government in Zimbabwe.

"It's my understanding that South Africa has within it the capacity to turn
off electricity supplies to Zimbabwe," said Mr Fraser.

"Short of war, all measures to bring pressure to bear on Zimbabwe, or on
Robert Mugabe, obviously, ought to be examined and entertained," he said.

Zimbabwean Police Charge 4 Farmers for Defying Eviction Orders

http://www.bloomberg.com

By Brian Latham

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Four Zimbabwean farmers have been charged by police
for defying orders to vacate their farms, lobby group Justice for
Agriculture said.

The four are among a group of 78 white farmers who challenged their
evictions in a Namibian-based Southern African Development Community
Tribunal. The tribunal ruled that the evictions were motivated by
discrimination and said farmers should return or remain on their land.

If convicted, the farmers may face up to two years in jail. They are due to
appear in court Jan. 5, JAG said today.

The charges follow the Dec. 17 appointment of Johannes Tomana as Zimbabwe's
attorney general, replacing acting attorney general Bharat Patel. Human
rights organizations and the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party
criticized Tomana's appointment, alleging he owes allegiance to President
Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party.

Often-violent farm seizures dispossessed most of Zimbabwe's white farmers of
their land between 2000 and the present day.

A report compiled for Justice for Agriculture by South Africa's IDASA
Democracy Institute said yesterday that at least 4,500 Zimbabwean farmers
and farm workers were tortured between 2000 and 2008, while farmers have
lost over $1 billion after Mugabe loyalists began seizing farms.

"There were over a million violations of human rights reported, with 4,525
citizens reporting cases of torture either committed by state agents or
condoned by state agents," John Worsley Worswick, chairman of JAG, said in a
phone interview from Harare today. "That is fundamentally at odds with the
state's rhetoric about land redistribution," he added.

Mugabe Loyalists

Justice for Agriculture commissioned the report from the South African-based
IDASA democracy institute's Research and Advocacy Unit, Worsley Worswick
told Bloomberg News.

"The reports shows that the so-called land reform program had nothing to do
with land at all, it was about replacing one group of people considered not
loyal with another group considered loyal," he said.

Neither Zimbabwe's Agricultural Ministry nor President Robert Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba answered calls from Bloomberg today.

Justice for Agriculture lobbies in Zimbabwe and abroad for compensation to
be paid to large-scale farmers who lost their land and homes during Zimbabwe's
continuing farm invasions.

The group last month won a Southern African Development Community tribunal
case ordering farm invasions be halted by the Zimbabwe government. Zimbabwe's
security minister, Didymus Mutasa, said the government would ignore the
court ruling.

Tsvangirai ready to go home

http://www.gov.bw

22 December, 2008
GABORONE - Zimbabwe opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, has no
intention of setting up a movement in exile.
Its leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, said in Gaborone on Friday, that he is
ready to go home.

He said he was only waiting to be issued with proper travelling documents.

"I have been waiting for my passport for the last six months and it is only
logical that I cannot return home illegally." Mr Tsvangirai thanked the
Botswana for hosting him, something he said comes at a great cost to the
country.

He also highlighted that the humanitarian situation unfolding in Zimbabwe
was of great concern to him and criticised Mr Robert Mugabe for bringing
about the worst form of sanctions on the Zimbabwean people.

Mr Tsvangirai noted that under normal circumstances cholera is a treatable
disease, which should have been brought under control quite easily, had it
not been for the self-inflicted collapse of the health system in Zimbabwe.

He lamented that Mugabe's regime has turned Zimbabwe into a country where
poverty and disease thrive.

Furthermore, he saluted the aid agencies and the health care workers for
doing their best to cope with this tidal wave of the humanitarian crisis.

He said the government's insistence on removing the responsibility for water
delivery from the local authorities is perpetuating the crisis.

"ZANU-PF has shown itself not to be able to manage donor funding responsibly
or impartialy." Consequently, he called on the United Nations agencies and
the NGOs operating within Zimbabwe to add value to, and increase, their
current programmes.

Mr Tsvangirai regretted the delay in the implementation of the September 15,
2008 power sharing agreement, but said they cannot continue to negotiate
with a party that is abducting their members.

In addition, he threatened that the MDC will consider pulling out of the
power sharing talks on January 1, 2009 if there is still no progress.

On other issues, he described as unfortunate allegations from the Zimbabwean
authorities that the MDC was training militias in Botswana in preparation
for a regime change.

He also denied MDC involvement in last week's shooting and wounding of
Zimbabwe Air Force Commander, Air Marshall Perence Shiri, saying the party
was formed to advocate for a peaceful agenda.

Mr Tsvangirai said he does not support military intervention in Zimbabwe
because it will worsen the humanitarian situation, but was quick to add that
the calls reflected the people's frustrations.

Currently, he explained that the Mugabe's regime is isolated, but did not
rule out the possibility that it could be receiving support from some
countries because of shared liberation struggle credentials.

He added that he was prepared to work with progressive ZANU-PF members if
the power sharing deal is implemented.

Mr Tsvangirai noted that it was unfortunate that the UN Security Council did
not discuss the Zimbabwean issue given the seriousness of the humanitarian
situation there.

The MDC leader thanked South African President Kgalema Motlanthe for his
facilitatory role in the talks in his capacity as the SADC Chair.

BOPA

Zimbabwe government and international community must do more

Source: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR)

Date: 22 Dec 2008

"The severe crisis affecting Zimbabwe is ravaging the country with alarming
speed. The government and the international community must do more to
rebuild the health system, end the cholera epidemic, and ensure adequate
food for all people" say four human rights experts of the United Nations.

"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed - it cannot control the
cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily
increase in the death toll. New cholera cases are being reported with no
medical system or staff with the capacity to contain the epidemic," remarked
the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of health, Mr Anand Grover. The Experts
expressed particular concern about the closure of the main public hospitals
due to lack of medical supplies and health professionals. They also
highlighted the shortage of anti-retroviral therapies and essential
medicines to treat acute diseases. The Experts emphasized that the
participation of communities is crucial for the development and
implementation of plans to rebuild the failing health system.

"There is no access to clean water sources and the country is faced with
poor sanitation and meager waste disposal and management infrastructure
greatly exacerbating the incidence of the disease" said the Independent
Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe
drinking water and sanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque. She noted that
"unsafe drinking water is also contributing to severe malnutrition. Ensuring
access to water and sanitation is essential to guarantee the human rights of
the people of Zimbabwe." With more and more people affected every day, the
situation is becoming disastrous and is likely to deteriorate as the rainy
season approaches, worried the Experts.

"There is just not enough food either at the national or household level. An
estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance. Food and agricultural
production have decreased drastically. With rising unemployment, and
hyperinflation due to several years of economic instability, people have
been suffering for too long in Zimbabwe; their right to adequate food has to
be fulfilled now," argued the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Mr.
Olivier De Schutter.

The Experts are particularly concerned that the enjoyment of economic,
social and cultural rights by the population and particularly the most
disadvantaged groups is threatened by the escalating crisis in Zimbabwe. The
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Ms. Margaret
Sekaggya noted that "the crisis is compounded by the use of unjustified
force by the authorities in response to peaceful demonstrations and the
recent abductions of human rights defenders." Ongoing violations of civil
and political rights, stated the Experts, make it harder for the authorities
and the people of Zimbabwe to unite and cooperate with the international
community to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

The Experts noted that "Zimbabwe had one of the best public health systems
in Sub-Saharan Africa, and was considered its 'breadbasket'. Stable systems
for providing access to health, water, sanitation and food must be restored
and respect for civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights
assured."

The Experts reiterated their willingness to work with the Government of
Zimbabwe and the international community to find urgent solutions to these
problems.

ENDS

The statement was signed by the following mandate holders of the UN Human
Rights Council:

- Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, Independent Expert on the issue of human
rights obligations related to safe drinking water and sanitation

- Mr Anand Grover, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health

- Mr. Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food

- Ms. Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders

For more information on the mandate holders of the Human Rights Council
visit the website http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/index.htm

Mugabe should face sanctions says COPE's Lekota

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
22 December 2008

One of Thabo Mbeki's close confidantes, and the new leader of the Congress
of the People, a party formed by dissident members of South Africa's ruling
African National Congress, said SADC states should halt supplies of
commodities to Zimbabwe,  to force political change.
Mosiuoa Lekota, the former ANC chairman and Defence Minister, said on Monday
it was no good to mouth beautiful slogans, insisting there must be
implementation. He added; 'Simply refusing supplies of commodities to
Zimbabwe could spur political change.'
Reports said the statement by Lekota will come as a surprise to many
observers, especially from a man who is very close to Mbeki, the SADC
mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis.
South Africa supplies Zimbabwe with fuel, electricity and food as well as
other imports. In 1980 it was South Africa's removal of support for Rhodesia
that brought independence to the country, and the end of Ian Smith's regime.

Mugabe gives police maize seed, fertilizer as a thank you

http://www.hararetribune.com

Monday, 22 December 2008 17:51 Thomas Shumba

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), in a blatant disregard of the operating
laws, bought maize seed and fertilizer for distribution to the pro-ZANU-PF
police as a thank for the 'hard work' they did this year in suppressing
human rights.

Handing over the farming implements to police officers in Harare, police
chief Augustine Chihuri claimed that one of the duties of police officers
was to boost agriculture production in the country.

"As an organisation, one of our major priorities is to utilise policing
strategies that have a penchant towards boosting agricultural
production,"Chihuri, who makes no apologies for his support of ZANU-PF,
said.

Ostensibly, the farming inputs were sourced under Operation Maguta, but
sources from the RBZ told the Tribune that the police officers were being
given the imputs as a thank you for their efforts in keeping Mugabe in
power.

"The farming inputs are part of the bonus package that has been availed to
the police by the government," the Tribune was told.

At the start of the ZANU-PF annual conference in Bindura, Mugabe had claimed
that maize seed and fertilizer were on its way to the people and was going
to be distributed by the RBZ.

The RBZ, however, claimed more maize seed and fertilizer were forth-coming
and would be given to the people and that the people were the first
beneficiaries. The RBZ has been accused of working night day to prop-up the
ZANU-PF government.

It appears the distribution of farming inputs to the police by the RBZ is
just another instance in its work to buy loyalty from the police, and in
turn, keep Mugabe in power.

Both critics and supporters agree that Mugabe has been able to stay in power
in Zimbabwe, thanks in large to the support that he recieves from the the
security services, of which the police are part.

It is illegal activities like these that has compelled the MDC to pledge
that Gideon Gono will be prosecuted when they come into power.

Zimbabwean officials added to banned list

http://www.swissinfo.ch

December 22, 2008 - 1:56 PM

Switzerland has frozen the accounts of 11 more Zimbabwean officials and
banned those persons from entering or travelling through the country.
A majority of the officials are linked to President Robert Mugabe and are
believed to be responsible for campaigns of violence surrounding the 2008
presidential elections, the economics ministry said on Monday.

The decision comes into effect on Tuesday, December 23, and falls in line
with recent action by the European Union, the ministry added.

The EU added the 11 names to its existing list of Zimbabwean officials
banned from travelling within its territory on December 8. A total of 178
Zimbabweans are already banned from entering or transiting through the
country.

To date the frozen Zimbabwean accounts hold a total of SFr547,000 ($497,635)

No rule of law

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Monday, 22 December 2008
The unspeakable terror of being taken from your house and abducted is
the daily reality of many Zimbabweans. So far at least 23 people are known
to have been kidnapped from their homes in the last seven weeks, and the
number has increased with three more victims.

The MDC-T reported on Wednesday that three activists were abducted, in
three different parts of the country.  Graham Matehwa, the MDC youth
chairperson for Ward 26 of Gwangwadza village in Makoni South constituency
Manicaland, was picked up by four armed men Wednesday morning. The party
said two of the abductors were identified as Isaac Dangirwa and Lucky
Chingara.

Another MDC youth activist, Bothwell Pasipamire of Kadoma Central in
Mashonaland West province, was kidnapped four days ago; while Peter Munyanyi
of Ward 8 in Gutu North constituency Masvingo province, was abducted this
week at Uchinda Business Centre, by armed soldiers led by a colonel.

Meanwhile a group of MDC activists abducted from the Banket area are
still missing, almost two months after they were abducted from their homes
around 27 October, and the police have not complied with court orders.

One of the victims' lawyers, Alex Muchadehama, said it is now a
question of who is going to police, the police and the security agents, as
they are the perpetrators of violence.

Muchadehama said the police are ignoring court orders even in the case
of Jestina Mukoko, the Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project.  Police were
ordered to place alerts in the media, to conduct thorough searches and to
update the courts on a daily basis, but they have done none of this.

A frustrated Muchadehama said it's now total lawlessness that is being
perpetrated. No one has been arrested in the normal sense of the word, or
advised of their rights to a lawyer, or has appeared in court before an
impartial judge and tried within a reasonable time. "That due process in
terms of the constitution has not been followed.'

The lawyer is concerned that there will be an increase in abductions,
as more and more activists report that they are being tailed by 'faceless
thugs.'

Meanwhile it's reported that almost all MDC activists in Bindura are
on the run, and they have been under constant threat since the death of ZANU
PF gangster Elliot Manyika in a car accident last week.

The MDC issued a statement Tuesday saying the police have falsely
imprisoned three party officials in Bindura. 11 of the 12 MDC councillors of
the Bindura Municipality fled their homes after police arrested Ward 10
councillor Norbert Dhokotera and two other MDC activists, in pre-dawn raids
on Monday night. Those arrested are being held at Bindura Central Police
Station on undisclosed charges.

Dhokotera had been arrested and then released last week on false
charges of petrol bombing the houses of Zanu PF supporters. He was released
after it turned out that it was Zanu PF youths who had petrol bombed five
houses belonging to MDC supporters.

Mugabe's killing machine

http://worldnetdaily.com

Barbara Simpson

Posted: December 22, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008

If you feel sorry for yourself, take a look at Zimbabwe, and you'll change
your mind. Nothing is as bad as that.

Father Peter, a doctor in a small clinic about 100 miles outside of Harare,
the capital city, sees death all around him.

"It's a silent tsunami. They just die so quietly. They don't demonstrate or
cry out or stand up. They just die."

He told the UK Times that at least eight adults and children in his village
died in a three-month period, but he said hundreds more pass on unrecorded
and many of those die of illness before starvation takes them.

He said the situation has reached "Auschwitz proportions."

Do Americans really know what's going on there?

No.

Are we concerned, or is Zimbabwe just "that country" on the other side of
the world and - who cares? Besides, we're facing hard times.

Yes - but do we realize how really fortunate we are?

Zimbabwe, once Africa's breadbasket with a thriving economy, has been
decimated under the 28-year regime of President Robert Mugabe into an
economically ravaged country of starvation, deprivation and now, disease.

A cholera epidemic is raging throughout the country and, to the growing
horror of neighboring countries, has spread into Botswana, Mozambique and
South Africa where cholera deaths have been reported. Border cities are
inundated with Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment not available at home.
The Limpopo River at the border is contaminated and could spread the disease
further.

Not surprisingly the Mugabe government blames the United States, Great
Britain and the West for the epidemic calling it a "serious biological
chemical war . a calculated racist terrorist attack on Zimbabwe.

Of course, Mugabe also begged for help as he finally declared a national
emergency. The United States stepped right up and more than doubled
emergency U.S. aid.

The U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Henrietta Fore
announced another $6.2 million on top of the $4.6 million already provided.
What exactly happens to all that money isn't clear.

The Mugabe government underplays the number of cholera cases and especially
the death toll. Health workers are silenced, and the health ministry
forbidden from issuing accurate statistics. The situation is made worse
because many people don't register the deaths of relatives.

In a bizarre move, the Harare City Council announced it would offer free
graves for cholera victims!

Cholera is a disease of poor sanitation. With the country's infrastructure
in shambles because of the corrupt Mugabe government, water wells are
contaminated. There's no sanitation system left, raw sewage runs in alleys
and some streets and children play in it.

The government says it doesn't have money to buy purification chemicals or
parts to repair what water system is left.

Even when people dig their own wells, that water becomes contaminated by
sewage. The situation will get worse as the rainy season begins.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1,000 have died and
tens of thousands are infected. The main culprit is a lack of potable water
and adequate toilets - not really a high-tech problem.

Treating cholera isn't high tech either - rehydration is vital as are
antibiotics. But major hospitals have been closed. Clinics that are open
have no supplies, little or no sanitation and, if there is water, it's
contaminated.

Doctors and nurses are few. There's no money to pay them or to get medical
supplies. When they tried to rally to call attention to their plight,
military and police turned on them.

Then some military and police turned against each other in efforts to get to
banks for currency because they weren't paid. It's reported that some of
them were ultimately executed by the regime.

It's a lose/lose situation, and the people who lose the most are the
powerless citizens whose own government is killing them by deliberate
neglect.

Mugabe's government and even some western NGOs deny people are dying of
starvation.

Just outside the cities people survive on berries and nuts mixed with water
and weeds, making a thin soup. They might stretch that by adding tree bark
or insects or cow dung.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary-General Lesley-Anne Knight reports that
nearly 90 percent of households are going hungry, half the population faces
starvation and 14,000 cases of cholera reported. She says people drop dead
on the streets and calls it ". poverty at its most dehumanizing." Sick
people are carried to clinics in wheelbarrows.

A woman in a film screened by the Solidarity Peace Trust had a chilling
comment: "Dead people are better off. They don't need water or sadza (maize
porridge). They're just lying there nicely in their graves."

People wait in line for hours at banks attempting to get some currency
although it's virtually worthless. Inflation is more than 240 million
percent and climbing.

A new $500 million dollar note (worth $10) and a $200 million dollar bill
were issued, according to the central bank, as a "convenience" to the
public.

When the $100 million note was issued, it was worth $14. A week later, it
was worth less than 50 cents.

That's inflation.

Even if people had money, store shelves are empty and lines are long for
what scant supplies might be available. Humanitarian food donations are
diverted to government officials, the military and political supporters or
are sold abroad for hard currency.

The Foundation of Reason and Justice in Zimbabwe begs for "practical
support" from the outside world in Zimbabwe's "struggle for freedom and
justice."

"War is not evil when fighting a bloodthirsty dictatorship. Zimbabwe needs a
revolution." They issued a call to all patriotic Zimbabweans.

The problem is Mugabe and his henchmen have control and the power - and the
people are unarmed.

Meanwhile the outside world sends supplies and money - and makes threats
which fall on deaf ears - while, as the starving woman said, "Dead people
are better off."

Merry Christmas.

Out of Africa, a cry for help

"We need outside assistance" … the Zimbabwean opposition politician Brian James.
Photo: Craig Abraham

 

December 23, 2008

Brian James took up Robert Mugabe's call. Now he's been run off his farm, writes Russell Skelton.

BRIAN JAMES resents the suggestion that the people of Zimbabwe should do more to rid themselves of the disaster that is the Mugabe regime.

"What more can people do?" he says. "People voted for change and then had the election stolen. People lost their lives and political abductions are still going on. We have 40 members of the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] unaccounted for. There is a systemic culture of fear."

The popularly elected mayor of Mutare, Zimbabwe's third-largest city with a population of nearly 300,000, Mr James is a prominent member of Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC.

He is also one of a handful of popularly elected white politicians that have survived the era of liberation politics that began with President Robert Mugabe.

Mr James is a second generation Zimbabwean who took up farming after hearing Mr Mugabe's independence speech in 1980 calling for the nation to pull together. Twenty years later he was run off his farm. He is in Melbourne to visit his daughter before travelling to New Zealand.

The mayor said he welcomed the United States's decision to call the power sharing agreement between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai "dead" on the grounds that "Mugabe had lost touch with reality".

The US Assistant Secretary of State, Jendayi Frazer, announced yesterday that the Bush Administration would continue to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe because Mr Mugabe had "reneged on the principle of power sharing".

"We need this outside pressure, it all helps. Our treason laws are such that it is impossible to call for anything … We need outside assistance," Mr James said.

He said Mr Mugabe's response - a threat to call a snap election - was full of bravado because he knew he would lose. "I would welcome an election especially if it was held under international supervision, there could be no escaping the verdict."

Mr James said he was initially discouraged from entering politics by members of the country's diminished white community who thought it best for business to avoid being identified with the MDC. "Some white business interests are working with the Government, they are helping to prop it up. When this is all over, there will be a need for a truth and reconciliation commission."

Cholera has spread to Mutare and the crisis is far from over despite claims by Mr Mugabe that it is. "We are worried that a nest of cholera could develop in the city, because the whole infrastructure including the sewerage system is in decay."

The disease has already claimed 1123 lives and aid agencies have warned that another 60,000 are likely to be infected unless decisive action is taken.

Elsewhere the situation continues to deteriorate with reports of corruption and extravagance among the military and the ruling political elite intensifying. Members of the elite send their children abroad to be educated while teachers go without basic pay. Local markets are bereft of food, but supermarkets for the wealthy remain well stocked.

Mr James remains optimistic. He said that even in Mutare, where Zanu-PF party members sit on the council, there was an increasing consensus. "There is a growing moderate group in the Zanu-PF that knows this cannot continue, that wants change."

Mr Mugabe's statements at the weekend that Zimbabwe was his and that he would "never surrender" would have been counterproductive. "We work on three pillars of principle: democracy, transparency and accountability. We explain to the people of Mutare what the hurdles are and I believe we have their backing, especially when it comes to transparency.

"The people are enthusiastic for change and we are feeding on that. These are poor people but the enthusiasm they have has opened my eyes to what was being felt across the entire country. It has kept me going."

I had a farm in Africa ... a young man's journey

http://www.mg.co.za

SEAN CHRISTIE - Dec 22 2008 10:13

Sean Christie gets on his bike and returns to what used to be his
grandfather's farm outside Harare

In 2000 sometime a prominent Zimbabwean politician travelled up and down the
Old Bulawayo Road between the agricultural towns of Norton and Kadoma,
looking for a farm to buy. A wave of violent land invasions by youths
claiming to be veterans of the Seventies bush war meant it was a good time
for prominent ruling party politicians to be shopping for cheap white-owned
farms.

There was no riper target than my grandfather, who was by then so badly
afflicted with emphysema that the end of his tenure had become a near
inevitability anyway, presaged by spiderwebs hanging thick with dust, like
silken stalactites, all through the yard.

That it was a sale under duress, and hardly less despicable than outright
theft, was reflected in the price offered and accepted -- little more than
the monetary equivalence of a second-hand Land Rover in exchange for 3 000ha
of sandveld, a lifetime's worth of buildings and a home. And yet somehow the
exchange of title deeds made a difference to me and the other potential
inheritors in our family. Thereafter, whenever I intersected with the
Zimbabwean dispossessed debating the prospects for return ("when things
improve up there"), I turned away, disinterested. As far as I was concerned
the family chapter on the farm in Zimbabwe was closed. Everything that
happened since seemed to validate this view.

Imagine my surprise, then, at finding myself astride a 21-speed mountain
bike in a suburban garden on the outskirts of Harare, receiving last-minute
directions to Norton.

"Stay on the Enterprise road all the way into the city," said my host, an
old university friend who somehow continued to eke a living out of the
world's loopiest economy by trading soft oils.

"Slice straight through the city, which will be busy today because [Robert]
Mugabe has convened Parliament. The main drag becomes the old Bulawayo road,
which will get you to Norton and your grandaddy's farm."

I knew all of this from countless holiday commutes between the farm and the
city, but just a day back in Zimbabwe had been enough to convince me it was
a new country from the one I had known. Plus you want to be extra sure of
things on a bike, in a country without food or drink, riding towards the
unknown.

"How far is it?"

"About sixty Ks."

"Damn."

"And it's hot."

"Very hot," echoed Samson, James's housekeeper. "Do you have a puncture
repair kit?"

I lied. "Yes."

"Do you have a place to stay?""Yes, the Norton Country Club," I lied again.
Its number was no longer listed in the slim national directory.

James opened the gate with a beeper. "Well, see you on the other side
shamwari. Remember, the worst that can happen to you is a thorough political
re-education. Let me give you a tip. If a crowd of Zanu people start
shouting "Pin", (as in: what's your secret pin code?), you must punch the
air and shout "Jongwe!", which means "cockerel", the Zanu-PF mascot.

Remember: Pin -- Jongwe, Pin--Jongwe, Pin--Jongwe .'

I walked the bike down the hill punching the air with my free hand.

"And for Pete's sake don't go waving at anyone. The open hand wave is
considered a sign that you're MDC!"

The first person to shout at me had my welfare at heart: "You must pootee
some presha in your tyahs!" I ground to a dispirited halt, heard a lion roar
somewhere behind the long wall of the Harare Show Ground, and read
"Agricultural Show" from the banner above the turnstiles. For years my
uncle, aunt and others from the Norton farming district had operated a
dubious food stand there, once roundly poisoning all who bought their
hamburgers.

The shows' heydays were the sanctions-era Seventies and the
post-independence Eighties. By the Nineties it had become a bore and now,
the agricultural sector having been all but demolished by the infamous
seizing of white-owned farms, it is little more than a hollow propaganda
exercise and a funfair -- lion roars souring the milk of a few token dairy
cows.

Sites of delicate personal significance studded the old Bulawayo road and I
paused by a sign for Warren Hills Cemetery, where my grandmother's ashes
were interred in 1987. It represented a short diversion, but in his second
book about the post-independence Zimbabwe, When A Crocodile Eats The Sun,
Peter Godwin describes his footsteps.

". the brass plaques, which were bolted onto each mini-tomb . are missing.
Every single one. The wall is just a long line of blank niches." Godwin
noted that tombstones had been stolen for use in building and that maize was
being cultivated in their place. Plus the site was being used as a lavatory
for the next door township.

No thanks.

For a while I pedalled on, dutifully bearing witness to images of want,
stowing images of men tilling beneath blank-faced billboards and of women
with buckets by streams so rank I gagged, and furthermore of children with
lemons (the "water water everywhere ." of African fruits), for potential use
in a story I had not yet decided to write. Soon enough, however, thirst and
leg pain geared my curiosity down to near apathy and between the old snake
park and the turn for Lake Chivero, I was interested only in a mysterious
preponderance of candelabra trees, which I later realised were there only
because their latex-filled arms don't burn in township stoves.

The rest of the country's trees are fast going up in smoke.

When the next real strobe of cognition broke through I was on the railway
bridge outside the town of Norton, the rim of my back wheel flush against
the tarmac. The sun was dropping fast and I would not have made it to the
Norton Country Club in daylight if a farmer from Kadoma, Kevin, hadn't
stopped the moment I put my thumb out.

"You sure somebody here knows you're coming?" he asked? "Because it isn't
really a country club anymore, it's the property of CCC, the pig
conglomerate" I lied with a nod of my head.

At first glance, aside from the guard house, two proud flagpoles and a
trench full of biocide, it appeared little else had changed from the
countless Saturdays I had spent there in my tennis or cricket whites. Spray
heads chattered away on mown fairways, yellow pins were planted in manicured
greens and on the terrace beneath the clubhouse gable the old wrought-iron
tables and chairs were arranged like daisy-heads.

"Seems out of place now, doesn't it?" said Kevin. "It's an amazing story
actually. Some of the last remaining farmers in the district clubbed
together and went into business with the country's major producer of pork
products. They bought the country club when all the white members left and
continue to look after the golf course because it keeps them in the good
books of the local black businessmen."

With that Kevin went tearing back to the main road, just ahead of a frantic
column of dust. I turned to face one of the major sites of my childhood, now
silent and shuttered.

"Knock knock," I shouted before proceeding into the East wing of the
clubhouse, past the fleur-de-lys-covered women's changeroom to the crèche,
which was now taken up by a large queen-size covered with a pink corduroy
bedspread. A woman with sun-blasted skin was changing in the en-suite
bathroom, caught with her shirt over her head and fortunately facing away.

When she joined me on the terrace lawn a minute later she was wearing a
canary yellow satin top with epaulettes, carried off by black tracksuit
bottoms. She hadn't bothered with shoes and from one glance at the
geological marvels that were the ends of her toes I knew she had been a
long-time resident of the Norton district, which has a groundwater lime
content so high it calcifies kettle elements, makes lathering-up in the
shower impossible and turns toenails into vegetable ivory.

"I'm afraid there's not much to do here so I sleep a lot of the time," she
said, puffing on a Pacific Mild. "By the way, I'm Dianne Bolt."

I explained my predicament.

"Camp on the bowling green if you like, you're welcome -- I won't even
charge you."

Her story came out of a Graham Greene novel I hadn't read. After the recent
death of her husband, Dianne had defied family resistance and returned to
Zimbabwe from South Africa. CCC had employed her "to keep an eye" on the
country club, a mantle which she had interpreted as a veiled instruction to
look into company malfeasance. Within a week, and seemingly without regret,
she had rumbled the estate manager's mielie-meal scam.

"You should have heard us screaming at each other that night. At one point I
saw this little axe on the table and I thought to myself, Dianne, you had
better get hold of that before he does. Well, you should have seen Nedson
run ."

The electricity had been off for days, but that night as I climbed into my
sleeping bag on the spongy green the lights winked on in the bar and I saw
Dianne smoking for a minute or two -- a forlorn symbol of this strange new
ecosystem that depended for everything on the profitability of a single,
giant piggery.

In the morning it was the disgraced manager himself who conjured a hearty
breakfast of fatty staff-ration pork rashers ("we eat rashers for breakfast,
pork loin for lunch, pork steak for dinner. We are all sick of pork").
Afterwards he insisted I follow him through to the bar.

"Look up at those feet on the ceiling. Do you remember the history that is
here?" I followed his gaze to a montage of painted hands and feet and
recalled that outgoing members, if they were well-liked, got dipped in paint
and turned into human stamps on especially festive nights.

The district health inspector had recently ordered Dianne to "clean the dirt
off the ceiling", but she had other ideas, which Nedson returned to life
through gleaming caricature.

"No, I'm sorry," he said, hooting with Victorian indignation, "it bloody
well isn't dirt, it's history, and we're not going to do anything about it
until you can tell the difference."

Dianne returned from the CCC workshop with a fixed bicycle tyre and an
ominous message from management.

"They say it's a bad time to be doing what you're doing. This whole peace
deal business has made the war veterans very nervous. They might think
you've arrived to take your farm back."

Urging caution has become a reflex in Zimbabwe, especially in the
countryside, where inter-farm communication has collapsed, breaking the
district up into an archipelago of distrustful villages and compounds.
Knowing this did not, however, mean that I was able to forget Dianne's
warning as I crossed, with very little Shona and fulfilling every detail of
a most suspicious profile, on to the old family farm sometime before noon.

I instantly suspected two youths standing by the turn -- one ofwhom stared
at me with unnerving intensity -- of belonging to Mugabe's youth militia,
pejoratively known as Green Bombers.

"Boss Sean, you are back?"

I wobbled to a stop.

"It is me, Patrick, Witness's son."

"Witness! How is Witness?

"He is fine boss."

"And Cosmos? Is that madala [old man] still alive?"

"He is alive. Come with me."

Witness and Cosmos had worked for my grandfather for 34 and 36 years
respectively, cooking, washing, polishing floors, stoking boiler fires and
churning milk. Independence came and went and they continued to answer to a
little brass bell every morning at breakfast, which I rang with great
enthusiasm on the holidays during which I intersected with this odd,
anachronistic world of master and servant.

Now shouts of "you must come back to us, we are struggling here", came from
a swelling entourage of boys in their late teens and early twenties. Cosmos,
puffing on a newspaper joint like a small engine at the head of his own
human train, wove towards us through the mud huts and red brick houses. His
eyes were clouded with blue cataracts and his teeth were missing, but that
he was alive at all was a marvel in a country where life expectancy hovers
around 35.

After a smoky hug we worked through a roll call of mutual acquaintances,
ending with the news of my grandfather's death.

"Oh sorry, sorry," he said, taking my hand and beginning to cry. I wept a
little too and the scene embarrassed the younger boys, causing them to
giggle or look solemn according to their characters. They suggested we leave
immediately to find Witness at his new homestead on the neighbouring farm.

To get to the path we moved with anxious haste around the fenced farmyard,
which was under the control of war veterans brought in to protect the new
owner's family. A tractor engine fired up and drew near, but to everyone's
relief it was driven by Cosmos's son, one of a handful of men from the
compound still employed by the farm, if being paid in water and mielie-meal
can be said to qualify the term.

"Your daddy's old house is zero," he lamented. "The boreholes have all
broken so there is no water for anyone. I have to fetch it every day from
the next door farm."

"No electricity, no food," said Patrick and his brothers. "All we grow here
is grass."

Isaac was nervous of appearances and soon took off on his water round. The
youngsters had nothing to loseand continued to heap scorn on the new owner
as we drew past the vacant, breeze block pig sties, which once debouched
fantastic colours of after-birth into a rancid marsh.

"Sometimes we see him. But I don't think he likes coming here anymore
because he has failed. His people just live in the big house and we live
here in the compound. They are zero and we are zero."

Witness's homestead consisted of two mud huts conveniently situated across
the path from a small, hyacinth-clad dam. He dropped a hoe he had been
digging with and came towards us shouting, "yo yo yo yo, yeh yeh yeh ."

He looked quite starved, but would say only that it was because he was
"working hard these days".

"Just look at all these children. This one and this one are not even mine."

The two Aids orphans stood by politely as Witness related the death of his
middle son, Tendeka.

"It was MaNyoka . what you call it -- a runny stomach; but he died because
there is no medicine anywhere."

I delivered his former employers' obituaries and Cosmos added that his own
wife and one of their sons had recently died. Before the boys started on
their own woes we moved quickly to agreeing that it was a very happy day
indeed and I asked nicely if I could stay the night.

"But we have no food."

"I will get some mielie-meal and pork from the pig farm," I said with
presumptuous gusto. "I will bring a lot of pork, then we can all have dinner
together -- you, me, Cosmos, Isaac and the children."

I flew back to the gates of CCC, dipped my wheels and shoes in biocide and
told my story to a successive string of managers leading all the way to the
head office, where a woman called Rhoda smiled and said: "It's good to do
these things sometimes -- good for the soul."

When I left, the zipper of my backpack grinned with two kilograms of
mielie-meal and 5kg of bloody pork -- loin, chops, rashers and knuckles.
Rhoda had winked as she handed over a receipt for Z$400, a mere R15. "In the
city this lot would cost you 10 times more."

Cosmos cooked a memorable curry that night in his rough daub and wattle
kitchen, using powder salvaged from the old farmhouse. The table mats
depicting landscape scenes in New Zealand were familiar too, as were the
glasses, the crockery, and, I swear, a teaspoon with a square end. The
youngsters had scratched up a pack of Pacifics in my honour and we smoked
around a paraffin candle and drank Coke, and repeatedly said it was a happy
day.

Awkwardness intruded only once, when I took a surprise photograph of Cosmos
serving dinner. The flash popped and blew light into the night and led to
such a deal of muttered Shona I put the camera away for good.

"You must rather take a picture of the old house," Witness urged. "Your
family will want to see pictures of that."

Isaac, who worked cheek by jowl with the war veterans, gave a cautionary
whistle.

"It is not a good idea."

"And the yard, do you think I could walk around the yard tomorrow?"

"That is a problem also."

Later, lying on a grass mat in Cosmos's pantry, I felt a brief gust of
murderous indignation, which soon petered out to nothing when I realised
that my fantasies of revenge had almost certainly passed through the dreams
of dismissed labourers in my grandfather's time, and in his father's time. I
was, and had always been, a mere guest of the feudal continuum.

Nevertheless early morning found me weaving through huts, coops and
out-houses, until I was free of the village and heading for the farmhouse.
The sun wasn't quite up, but I could see perfectly well, which meant I could
be seen as I worked my way through the naked acacias in the old dairy cow
camp that embraced the farmhouse garden.

I intended taking cover in the elephant grass that grew by the pool or by
the lemon trees at the back near the old boiler, but all chance of
concealment had literally gone up in the smoke of a fire that had burned
straight through the camp and into the garden, all the way to the walls of
the house. I was just readying my camera for pictures when an alarm went
up -- two quick whistle blasts, which had me sprinting back to the compound
along old cow tracks. I froze deep amongs the acacias, thinking, "Idiot!"
The alarm sounded again and it was answered by a double whistle directly
behind me -- a heuglin's robin, one of a pair just warming up for the day. I
crept sheepishly back to the compound.

As I re-assembled my smoky effects a toddler in a grimy blue dressing gown
tried seducing me with her giggles. She had brown eyes and her hair had been
pulled and twisted in a dozen directions, like the scapes of an agapanthus.

"Do you know her name?" asked Cosmos, puffing on the first zol of the day.
"They call her Lolla, after your sister."

Lolla's father was busy with my second puncture, looking for bubbles as he
rapidly put the semi-inflated inner tube through a bowl of water. I recorded
these details minutely because I thought that's how I'm going to end the
story -- with the image of a father and daughter at the beginning of a new
Zimbabwean day, read "peace deal".

But as I write this now, weeks later, it is clear that the "historic peace
deal" signed by Mugabe and the two leaders of the opposition MDC factions
was just another of the autocrat's diversionary stunts, designed to mislead
world attention and secure a few more months of suicidal governance. That he
has largely succeeded owes much to the gutless leaders of the Southern
African Development Community, who implicitly gave the octogenarian their
stamp of approval when they urged him, in November, to go ahead and form a
government despite the fact that critical power-sharing issues have not been
resolved.

Witness's words speak over the endless political heckling.

"The rains have come and there is no seed. How will we survive until
Christmas? Nobody knows."

Year of Discovery competition: rail journeys category winner

 

George Tabor from London is the winner of the rail journeys category of our travel writing competition with his tale of faded glory on an overnight train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls.

 

By George Tabor
Last Updated: 1:52PM GMT 22 Dec 2008

On the track of nostalgia: a train crossing the bridge at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe Photo: GETTY

Twenty-seven years ago I took the overnight train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. It was a nostalgic end-of-Empire experience. Would it be the same today, I wondered, in the hapless land of Zimbabwe?

Bulawayo station still had the longest platform in Africa, and trains still ran. Mine was the only one left with sleepers and a restaurant car, complete with a sweating chef preparing food from who knows where, in a land which once brimmed with milk and honey.

The carriages, built in Gloucester in 1952, were of the mahogany-and-brass variety. Predictably, most of the fittings and light bulbs were missing. Yet the stainless-steel wash basin had stood the test of time, along with the sturdy four-berth couchettes.

With a whistle and a shout we rumbled forth.

My only travelling companion in First Class was an African charity worker. “We people have no food. No money. Can I join you for dinner?”

I looked around the compartment.

“I will take the top bunk on this side”. I smiled.

“I will take the lower bunk on that side”. He smiled back.

The door slid open, and another visitor entered. I took one look, and decided to take my luggage to dinner, and worry about bunks later – preferably one nearest the door.

The two of us sat in style with crisp white linen, and cutlery emblazoned “Rhodesia Railways”. A chirpy waiter appeared, regaled in a red fez and white gloves which had seen better days. It was a brave attempt to maintain standards. Perhaps he thought I was a rich aid worker.

The first course was a watery brown Windsor railway soup. The rest was uninspiring, except for the ice cream and ice-cold beers.

I retired to toss and turn, with my valuables under my pillow, and one eye on the door. All through the night the train rattled past lonely outposts, where in the 1890s the construction gangs had slept in trees to avoid man-eating lions.

Dawn broke over the savannah. Predictably, the lions appeared, staring at us through the tall grass as we roared by.

Somewhere back down the line, our companion had disappeared. The ticket inspector never turned up. Perhaps he wasn’t paid.

The train arrived two hours late.

I stumbled out: the only white man in evidence. My “charity” companion was greeted by a bunch of dodgy-looking currency dealers. As I walked down the platform to the awe-inspiring Victoria Falls Hotel, I waved at the sweating chef in the kitchen compartment. The merry little waiter beamed back at me. I gave them a 100 million Zimbabwe dollar note. Perhaps they were the only lucky ones around that day able to enjoy a square meal, a few beers, plus a fat Zimbabwe tip.

Whatever else has occurred in this hapless land, some trains still run regularly – a little late perhaps – but with an endearing old edge.

"A Christmas Carol in Zimbabwe"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Posted December 22, 2008 | 01:48 PM (EST)

Michealene Christini Risley

My husband and I have been reading the classic "A Christmas Carol", to our
children. Every night at bedtime we take turns reading portions of the tale.
The book represents our countdown to Christmas. With imagination, I create a
self-absorbed, grating voice to mimic Scrooge as I read. I can't help but
get sidetracked in my mind to the situation in Zimbabwe. I try to keep
reading to the kids and feel some solace from the idea that there is a place
like the one Jacob Marley describes to Scrooge, a place where Mugabe will
have to pay for his behavior, his callousness and perhaps sit somewhere near
Adolf Hitler in the bowels of hell. I desperately hope so.

I received three emails from non government organizations (NGO's) in
Zimbabwe panicked about the rumor that the United States was changing its
currency. At first, I wanted to laugh at the absurd notion, and then quickly
realized there was a complete lack of information from those still stranded
in Zimbabwe. With the worthlessness of Zimbabwe currency, the US dollar has
replaced it. (Ironic, isn't it) The idea of US currency being changed was
causing a desperate anxiety to these groups who had already lost a great
deal. I sent out a note to assure them this would not happen. (At least it
has never happened before). Again, I saw Scrooge in his warehouse, counting
out his coin, as he forced his clerk to sit by an inadequate fire. Mugabe
too, behind a roaring fire, counting his fortunes and delivering Christmas
spirit only to those who raped and pillaged on his behalf.

In the tale of course, Scrooge has been forewarned by his ghostly partner,
Jacob that he would receive visitors.. He was prepared. "Are you the spirit
whose coming was foretold to me? Asked scrooge. "I am" said the voice. Who
and what are you? I am the ghost of Christmas past,"
He led Mugabe by the hand as they passed through the wall and down a narrow
road. There at the end of the road, was a small schoolhouse. In the
classroom, sat a boy of ten, Robert Mugabe himself, looking bereft and
alone. Similar in many ways to Scrooge, abandoned by his father and with a
mother who had five other children to attend to, he shouted in delight as he
saw the priest that raised him. He saw himself at a podium accepting one of
the many degrees he had earned. At this point, Mugabe had a smile on his
face.

The Ghost settled into a casual pace as they walked onto a country road.
This was a portal into Zimbabwe at its finest. Before both of their eyes,
were miles and miles of green land and trees bending over from their bounty.
It was harvest time. Golden leaf, Spinach, vegetables, the market was
teaming with people carrying various items stacked on their head. Excitement
and chatter danced in the air, as people readied food for the market. Food
was plentiful, people were laughing-a time of abundance. The Ghost turned to
Mugabe, his eyes bore into him and moments later Mugabe found himself in bed
with that damn clock striking twelve again.

I am the ghost of Christmas present" said the Spirit. Mugabe is once again
led out onto a street. The spirit points to a lone car driving down a
rutted, dirt road. The small car is stuffed with people who moving up and
down uncomfortably from the conditions of the road. There are three boys in
the back left corner of the car. The youngest boy is on the lap of another
boy. It is obvious by the similarity in their facial features that they are
brothers. The young girl next to them is crying silent tears; she has just
lost her mother to Cholera. She will soon follow her mother though as her
kidney will stop working soon. The last woman in the back seat, an older
white haired woman next to her is dying of cervical cancer. They carry oil
and bread on their lap, the only items that lie between them and starvation.

He continues to walk with Mugabe and they soundlessly find themselves in a
suburb of Harare. It is 4 am. A group of 20 men are surrounding a small
house. Four of the men break off and head into the house. They come out
quickly, carrying a pajama clad woman who is flailing and screaming as she
is flung into the backseat of an unmarked Mazda. Mugabe recognizes her as
Jestina Mukoko. A Zimbabwe peace project director who has been a vocal
activist to help people survive. Her son comes running outside screaming
after the car that races into the night. She disappears.

All around Mugabe were people being arrested or raped. Even the offices of
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in the southern city of Bulawayo were
in the midst of a break in by the Central Intelligence Organization. Scare
tactics, beatings and deaths abound. Mugabe thought for a moment of Jacob's
Marley's eternal travel as redemption for his sins. He began to sweat...just
a little. Once again he awoke in his bed-kicking off his covers and hoping
this was all a bad dream.

As he swung his foot over to the side of the bed, a sudden piercing scream
and the sound of rattling chains came though the wall. Mugabe screamed as
the ghost came forward. "I am the ghost of Christmas yet to come". Mugabe
was on his own. No henchman for defense, no CIO to kill and maim. He
panicked. "No, Mugabe shouted at the ghost, it is the Western's worlds
fault, it is not mine. They are brainwashing everyone."

The spirit ignored him and nudged him forcibly outside. Mugabe's cockiness
faltered as he walked with the ghost into a den of despair. Everywhere in
Zimbabwe, families wept over their dead. As they sobbed, they rushed to bury
them within their 20 minute allotment. Cholera has spread faster than the
fires Zimbabweans continue to set to the fields to find rodents to eat.

He sees a young 15 year old girl accompanied by her mother, carrying the
coffin of her infant, dead from Cholera. Behind them and covered by grass
are thousands of graves of people stretching kilometers and miles and feet.

All around the ghost and Mugabe are howls of pain and anguish. Suffering
knows no worse place.

A newspaper boy yells from a busy corner. "Extra, Extra, Botswana's,
President training bandits' to raid Zimbabwe!" The ghost turns to Mugabe
with eyebrows raises. He shows President Khama working with refugees,
assisting Cholera victims. No where is there any "bandits" of any truth to
the State Run government newspaper, The Heralds claim:
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=zim&s=f&o=348624&apc_state=henh\

The ghost finally speaks-only his eyes can be seen beneath the black hood.
Do you lie about your neighbors? Is there anything that you take
responsibility for? Mugabe, felt a deep, penetrating fear and he finally and
he cracks. "Yes, yes, the situation in Zimbabwe is mine. I will change, I
will change. The people loved me, they can love me again."

And at that promise...the ghost nods slowly and disappears. Mugabe sits
alone in his room. He is a well read man, he knows this Christmas tale. He
is shaking, deep breathing to calm down. He realizes that finally, he is
given a chance to change. He knows that the people of Zimbabwe are resilient
and forgiving...it won't take much. Food on the tables, hospitals open,
clean water and a way to eek out a small living.

He thinks about it for a moment, and then another moment and then he begins
to laugh. His fear of the ghost has dissipated. His arrogance and tyranny
return. He begins to calculate and tally... "If I wait till next year, many
more people will have died. I will have to give up less money, and less
power. Besides, those that are going to die are Zanu-PF supporters anyways.
Another maniacal laugh, almost mirroring the ghost of Christmas yet to come:
"Zimbabwe is mine! "

Bah Humbug!