Zimbabwe Abductions: Further Developments Relating to Individuals Subjected to Enforced Disappearances - ZLHR

S.A vehicles Were Used In Disappeared Persons Saga

http://www.radiovop.com

HARARE, December 28 - LAWYERS representing opposition activists and
human rights defenders being held incommunicado by state security agents are
investigating the use of a South Africa registered vehicle in the
transportation of the detainees.

In a press release to VOP Radio on Sunday, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR), whose members are representing 32 of the disappeared
persons, including former journalists and director of the Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP), Jestina Mukoko, said they were investigating why a South
African registered vehicle was being used to transport the disappeared
persons. The lawyers' pressure group charged that it was against
international law.
"In a disturbing development, when lawyers attempted to follow up
action on 25 December 2008, they were advised that the abductees who were
being held at Harare Remand Prison had been removed from the prison to an
undisclosed location in a red minibus by unknown individuals, under escort
of riot police," said ZLHR.

"What is further disturbing is the fact that this minibus bears a
South African licence plate number. Lawyers are continuing with attempts to
locate all the abductees and to investigate why a South African licensed
vehicle is being used in connection with enforced disappearances which are
contrary to international law and which South Africa have outlawed," it
said.
On 24 December 2008 eight of the current total of thirty-two
individuals abducted over the last seven weeks were brought to the
Magistrates' Court in Harare under armed guard. These individuals were
Jestina Mukoko, Broderick Takawira, Violet Mupfuranhehwe, Fidelis Chiramba,
Collen Mutemagau, Concillia Chinanzvavana, Emmanuel Chinanzvavana, and Pieta
Kaseke.
Also present was the two-year old minor, Nigel Mutemagau, who has been
missing all along as he was with his parents (Violet Mupfuranhehwe and
Collen Mutemagau), when they were unlawfully abducted on 30 October 2008.
The ZLHR said investigating Officer Chief Superintendent Magwenzi, who
was present throughout the day at the Magistrates' Court, allegedly refused
to disclose to lawyers the whereabouts and condition of the remainder of the
abductees, despite having advised lawyers the previous day that he was
responsible as the investigating Officer for all the abductees currently in
custody.
Mukoko and eight others are reportedly being held at Chikurubi Maximum
prison in defiance of a court order to release them into hospital for
treatment of injuries they received when they were tortured while in
detention.

The state has appealed against the court order to have them released
into hospital under police guard.

The case is due to be heard again on Monday.

Mugabe's government gives opposition leader Tsvangirai a passport

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Africa News
Dec 28, 2008, 7:59 GMT

Harare/Johannesburg - President Robert Mugabe's government appears to have
given in to the threats by Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to
pull out of a power-sharing deal unless he is issued with a passport.

While Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party refused to comment, a senior MDC official confirmed a
report in the state-owned weekly The Sunday Mail that Tsvangirai had been
issued with a passport.

'He now has the document after a long struggle,' the official said Sunday.

Chamisa, meanwhile, said: 'I think it is only proper that the president
himself (Tsvangirai) comments on whether the passport was indeed given to
him as the paper is alleging especially that he applied for it ages ago,'
said Chamisa.

Asked if Tsvangirai would join Mugabe's government if he got his passport,
Chamisa said: 'What is more important than the passport is that (Mugabe's)
Zanu-PF shows sincerity by releasing the people it abducted and resolves the
outstanding issues of equitable distribution of cabinet and senior posts of
government of national unity.'

Tsvangirai who was in neighbouring Botswana has said he cannot return to
Zimbabwe without a valid passport. He was not granted a new passport after
his previous one expired last year and has been using emergency travel
documents.

Earlier this month, Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the power-sharing
pact he and Mugabe signed in September unless he is issued with a new
passport and his supporters being detention on charges of banditry are
released by year-end.

The 32 detainees - among them a 2-year-old child - were remanded in police
custody after the government lawyers challenged a High Court order for their
immediate release issued on Christmas Eve.

In October, Tsvangirai refused to travel on a temporary travel document to a
regional summit in Swaziland to try to resolve a stalemate.

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba claimed the delay in issuing the document
was 'because Zimbabwe is running out of paper for passports ... because of
sanctions,' imposed on the regime by the West.

Mugabe accuses Tsvangirai of having campaigned for the sanctions. The Sunday
Mail said Tsvangirai no longer had any ground not to form a government of
national unity.

'The opposition leader has been dragging his feet demanding that he be given
a new passport as well as the release of MDC activists ... (the) issuance of
the passport leaves the opposition leader without excuses for not
participating in the formation of the inclusive government,' The Sunday Mail
said.

Negotiations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai are deadlocked over the issue of
the distribution of key cabinet ministries in the new government.

Zimbabwe's MDC insists on "equitable" sharing of posts

http://news.yahoo.com

Sun Dec 28, 8:02 am ET

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe opposition MDC insisted Sunday that an "equitable"
sharing of key ministries and the resolution of other outstanding political
issues were the "passport" to the formation of a unity government.

"The biggest passport to the formation of an inclusive government is the
resolution of outstanding political issues, that is, issues to do with the
allocation of governors' posts and the equitable allocation of key
ministries," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

"We have identified several key ministries which we want shared equitably.
It is not about home affairs only, as ZANU-PF falsely claims, and it is not
going to be resolved by sharing one ministry as SADC (Southern African
Development Community) suggested," he told AFP.

He was responding to a question as to whether the issue of a new passport to
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Christmas Day could fast-track the formation
of a unity government.

"There is also the issue of abductions, which are taking place against the
spirit of the memorandum of understanding and the global political
agreement, and the use of hate language in the state media," Chamisa said.

"Our position is that these issues should be dealt with and the
Constitutional Amendment number 19 passed in parliament to create a legal
framework for the formation of the government," he stated.

"The outstanding issues are not beyond the capacity of the parties to
resolve."

President Robert Mugabe and his rivals from the MDC signed a power-sharing
deal in September in Harare but negotiations to form a unity government have
stalled as both sides squabble over key cabinet posts.

Zimbabwe to prosecute 140 white farmers: report

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Sun Dec 28, 7:04 am ET

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe will prosecute 140 white landowners on charges of
failing to vacate their farms under the country's controversial 2000 land
reform programme, state media reported Sunday.

"A total of 140 farmers are to be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms
after being issued with eviction notices," The Sunday Mail said, citing a
report presented at the ruling ZANU-PF party's national conference.

The government ordered the white owners to leave by September 30 to make way
for resettlement by landless blacks, under often-violent land reforms that
critics blame for causing chronic food shortages in this onetime regional
breadbasket.

The report did not specify what charges the farmers would face but law
experts said it could be trespassing for failing to comply with the
government ultimatium.

The report to the just-finished conference said another 278 farms owned by
13 countries would be spared from government seizure and prosecution under a
Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs).

This provision involves more than 522,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) owned
by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius,
the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, it
said.

The government also recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to
continue farming across the country, and is drafting documents to give them
a 99-year security of tenure on their properties "as the land reform
programme nears conclusion," the report said.

A further 97 white farmers will be allowed to continue running conservancies
or private game parks in six provinces, it said.

This brings to 438 the number of white farmers allowed to retain their land
out of 6,708 operating in Zimbabwe before the reforms were launched eight
years ago, The Sunday Mail said.

A total 1,530 new black farmers have received land offer letters from the
government as of September 30 and the figure is expected to rise 1,800 by
the end of this week, it added.

Under President Robert Mugabe's programme, at least 4,000 properties
formerly run by white farmers have been seized for redistribution to blacks,
the majority of whom lacked the skills and means to farm.

The chatoic programme is held largely responsible for the country's economic
crisis, which has saddled Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation rate
and left nearly half the population in need of aid.

Mugabe, however, blames the food crisis on successive droughts and
Zimbabwe's economic woes on Western-backed sanctions slapped on him and his
aides for allegedly rigging his re-election in 2002.

Scores of frustrated white farmers have left the country to resettle in
other African states, notably Nigeria. Many others have sought legal
recourse to try to prevent the loss of their farms.

Nigeria, a regional powerhouse, invited the farmers to set up shop in April
2005 in a project located in Shonga in central Kwara state, which three
years later is shaping up as an economic success story.

Zimbabwe to retain 716 white farmers after land reforms

http://www.apanews.net

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) More than 700 white farmers will retain their land in
keeping with proposals by Zimbabwe's government to improve food security and
restore confidence in the agriculture sector, the state-run Sunday Mail
weekly reported here.

Quoting a report presented at the ruling party's annual conference two weeks
ago, the paper said the government was currently drafting offer letters for
a group of 341 unspecified white farmers who would be allowed to continue
farming throughout the country.

Another group of 97 white farmers would also be allowed to continue running
conservancies in six of the country's 10 provinces while a further 278 farms
would be spared from government expropriation as they are protected under
bilateral investment protection agreements with 13 countries.

This would bring to 716 the total number of farms spared from compulsory
acquisition by the Zimbabwean government for purposes of resettling landless
people.

Zimbabwe had more than 6,000 white farmers who formed the backbone of the
economy prior to the land reform programme in 2000.

A further 140 white farmers would be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms
after receiving eviction notices.

The decision to spare some farmers from eviction follows on the heels of a
landmark case in which 78 white farmers successfully challenged the
constitutionality of Zimbabwe's land reform programme at the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Namibia.

The tribunal ruled in favour of the farmers and said Zimbabwe had violated
the SADC Treaty which forbids countries to discriminate on the basis of
colour or race.

  JN/tjm/APA 2008-12-28

The painful cost of a small victory for white farmers in Zimbabwe

http://www.iht.com

By Celia W. Dugger Published: December 28, 2008

CHEGUTU, Zimbabwe: Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate and a powerful
member of the Zimbabwean ruling party, began showing up uninvited at the
Etheredges' farm here last year, at times still dressed up after a day in
Parliament.

And she made her intentions clear, the Etheredges say: She wanted their farm
and intended to get it through the government's land redistribution program.

The farm is a beautiful spread, with three roomy farm houses and a lush,
55,000-tree orange orchard that generates $4 million a year in exports. The
Etheredges, outraged by what they saw as her attempt to steal the farm,
secretly taped their exchanges with her.

"Are you really serious to tell me that I cannot take up residence because
of what it does to you?" she asked Richard Etheredge, 72, whose father
bought the farm in 1947. "Government takes what it wants."

He dryly replied, "That we don't deny," according to a transcript of the
tapes.

Etheredge this year became one of dozens of white farmers to challenge the
government's right to confiscate their land, and they sought relief in an
unusual place: a tribunal of African judges established by the 15 nations of
the Southern African Development Community regional trade bloc.
The case is rooted in one of the most fraught issues facing not just
Zimbabwe, but other nations in the region, especially South Africa: the
unjust division of land between whites and blacks that is a legacy of
colonialism and white minority rule.

But the tribunal's recent ruling, in favor of the white farmers, is also a
milestone of particular relevance to Zimbabwe. It suggests that a growing
number of influential Africans - among them religious leaders and now
jurists - are confronting Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's 84-year-old liberation
hero and president, for his government's violations of human rights and the
rule of law, even as most regional heads of state continue to resist taking
harsher steps to isolate his government.

Zimbabwe's handling of the land issue has had disastrous consequences. Since
2000, when Mugabe began encouraging the violent invasion of the country's
large, white-owned commercial farms - once the country's largest employers -
food production has collapsed, hunger has afflicted millions and the economy
has never recovered.

Mugabe presents this redistribution as a triumph over greedy whites. But it
set off a scramble for the best farms among the country's ruling elite, who
often had little knowledge or interest in farming, and became a potent
source of patronage for Mugabe. His own relatives, as well as generals,
judges, ministers and members of Parliament, were beneficiaries, farmers and
human rights groups say.

By this year, the number of white-owned commercial farms dwindled to about
300 from 4,500. Even many of the remaining ones came under assault in the
bloodstained election season this year.

Among those singled out were farms here in Chegutu, where some owners had
dared to take their cases to the Southern African Development Community
tribunal, challenging Mugabe before judges he could not entice with gifts of
land.

In March, the tribunal ordered the Zimbabwean authorities not to evict any
farmers seeking legal protection, pending resolution of the case. But as
with other international efforts to influence Mugabe and his allies, the
Zimbabwean authorities apparently decided to ignore the tribunal's order.

On June 17 - just 10 days before the discredited presidential runoff between
Mugabe and his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai - dozens of youths led by a man
named Gilbert Moyo surrounded Etheredge's son, Peter, 38, at the main gate
of the farm, family members said.

"Moyo told me he'd been sent by Edna," Peter Etheredge recalled, referring
to Madzongwe, the Senate president. He said that Moyo had threatened to kill
him if the Etheredge clan did not clear off the farm immediately.

Peter, his twin, James, and their families fled.

Madzongwe denied hiring Moyo and his gang. "If a farm is acquired, there are
rules," she said in a recent telephone interview. "I go by the book."

But Jason Lawrence Cox, a local farmer, swore in an affidavit that he saw
her on June 21 drive past piles of the Etheredges' belongings, dumped at the
side of the road, and onto their farm.

The gang had looted the three family homes on the farm of all but the large
mounted heads of an eland and a kudu, according to photos taken before and
after the invasion. They used a jackhammer to break through the foot-thick
wall of the walk-in safe. The haul from the homes and the farm included
about 800 kilograms, or 1,760 pounds, of ivory; 14 handmade guns; 14
refrigerators and freezers; 5 stoves; 3 tractors; a pickup truck; and 400
tons of oranges, the family said.

Eleven days later, a far more violent farm invasion occurred at the home of
Mike and Angela Campbell, also here in Chegutu. Mike Campbell, 76, was the
first farmer to take on Mugabe before the tribunal.

A gang came that Sunday afternoon, pouring out of a pickup truck and a bus,
Angela Campbell said. Her son-in-law, Ben Freeth, 38, said that he was
bludgeoned with rifle butts and that his skull and ribs were fractured. Mike
Campbell was also severely beaten.

Angela Campbell, 66, said she was dragged by her hair, after her arm was
broken in multiple places, and dumped next to her husband. The doctor who
treated them in the capital, Harare, signed affidavits confirming the
severity of their injuries.

"Mike was so battered, I hardly recognized him," Angela Campbell said. "I
didn't know he was alive until he groaned." The three of them were loaded
into the Campbells' truck and driven to a nighttime vigil of youth loyal to
the ruling party at Moyo's base camp, she said.

It was cold, and men poured freezing water over them. Mike Campbell drifted
in and out of consciousness. By the flickering light of bonfires, the youths
denounced the Campbells as white pigs, Angela Campbell said, and ordered her
to sing revolutionary songs. She remembers singing a children's song
instead, which enraged one of her intoxicated tormentors. He charged at her,
she said, trying to thrust a burning stick into her mouth.

Later that night, the Campbells and Freeth were again stuffed into the back
of the Campbells' truck. Before they were dumped, Angela Campbell said, the
kidnappers insisted that she sign a paper promising not to press the
tribunal case.

Within days - just as the international outcry mounted over the
state-sponsored beatings of thousands of opposition supporters - photographs
of the grotesquely battered faces of the Campbells and Freeth circulated on
the Internet.

By July 4, the police informed the farmers here who were part of the
tribunal case that they could go back to their land. Peter Etheredge
speculated that the authorities might have relented because the photographs
were spreading online just as Mugabe was meeting with Africa's leaders about
his country's political crisis.

On Nov. 28, the farmers gathered in Windhoek, Namibia, to hear the final
ruling of five judges of the Southern African Development Community
tribunal. As Justice Luis Antonio Mondlane of Mozambique read the full
60-page decision aloud, it dawned on the farmers that they had won.

The tribunal found that the government had breached its obligations under
the trade bloc's treaty, which committed it to respecting human rights,
democracy and the rule of law, by denying the farmers compensation for their
farms and court review of the government's confiscation of them.

More broadly, it rejected the government's claim that the land
redistribution program was meant to right the wrongs of a colonial era when
a white minority ruled what was then Rhodesia. Instead, the court found that
the government had itself racially discriminated against the white farmers.

In a stinging rebuke, the tribunal, citing an earlier legal case, said it
would have reached a different conclusion had the government not awarded
"the spoils of expropriation primarily to ruling party adherents."

The usually stoic farmers wept. "We burst into tears, the whole lot of us,"
Freeth said.

The reaction of the government was defiant. Didymus Mutasa, the minister who
oversees the distribution of seized land, told the state media that the
judges were "daydreaming" if they thought Zimbabwe would heed the ruling.

The government would take over the rest of the white-owned farms, he vowed.
And the state has since moved to prosecute four Chegutu farmers, though not
yet the Etheredges or the Campbells, for illegally occupying land they owned
before the government claimed it, the farmers' lawyer, Dave Drury, said.

Perhaps it was a banner at the recent funeral of a ruling party boss that
best captured the government's rejection of those who question its
righteousness, even a panel of distinguished African jurists.

The banner said: "The Rhodesian Tribunal Can Go to Hell."

Mugabe backs down on SADC land ruling

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9261

December 28, 2008

By Raymond Maingire

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government has made a dramatic U-turn on
its recent public declaration that it will not abide by the recent ruling of
an SADC tribunal barring the continued seizure of white-owned farms.

A report carried in the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper this
week says the government had resolved to allow Zimbabwe's remaining white
commercial farmers to keep their land.

"The government has recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to
continue farming throughout the country," read the Sunday Mail.

"There is need to finalise the issue of white farmers to continue farming so
as to give them security of tenure in the form of offer letters and/or lease
agreements.

"This brings to 438 the number of farmers who have retained their land out
of the 6 708 that were operating in Zimbabwe before the launch of the Land
Reform Programme."

According to the Sunday Mail, a further 97 white farmers will be allowed to
continue to run conservancies in six of the country's eight provinces.

The government says it will, however, proceed with the prosecution of 140
white farmers who have refused to vacate their land after receiving eviction
notices.

Mugabe said early this month his government had no obligation to follow the
tribunal ruling as it violated Zimbabwean laws governing its land
resettlement programme.

Mugabe spoke after 75 white Zimbabwean farmers approached the tribunal
seeking an order to stop government from repossessing their farms under its
controversial land reform programme.

In its ruling, the tribunal said the applicants had been discriminated
against on the grounds of race.

"The ( Zimbabwe) government is directed to take all necessary measures
through its agents to protect the possession, occupation and ownership of
the land by the applicants," the tribunal said.

The tribunal also ordered that a handful of commercial  farmers whose land
had already been confiscated should be compensated by June 30, 2009.

Mugabe, whose government unleashed thousands of its militant supporters and
war veterans to invade white-owned commercial farms during the onset of a
violent land expropriation programme back in 2000, had dismissed the ruling.

"We asked them (the tribunal) if they had considered what is in our
Constitution which clearly states there shall be a resettlement programme,"
Mugabe said to scores of cheering Zanu-PF supporters outside his party's
politburo meeting last month.

"They think what they say should stand. So it's a tribunal that had an
exercise in futility."

A few days earlier, Didymus Mutasa, the outgoing Minister of State for
National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, who in his heyday
portrayed himself as a Zanu-PF hardliner, described the tribunal as
daydreaming.

Mutasa insisted more farms would be acquired under government's land reform
programme.

"They (the tribunal) are day-dreaming because we are not going to reverse
the land reform exercise," Mutasa said.

"There is nothing special about the 75 farmers and we will take more farms.
It's not discrimination against farmers, but correcting land imbalances."

Mutasa has constantly parried allegations he made a fortune out of
protection money received from desperate commercial farmers, especially in
Manicaland.

The government claims it is being singled out for systematic vilification by
the powerful western nations for its repossession of land from the
descendants of British settlers who occupied Zimbabwe's prime land during
the colonial era more than a hundred years ago.

The climb-down by the government comes after a Zanu-PF conference two weeks
ago which adopted a resolution supporting the continued seizure of land.

Relatives Say MDC Activist Was Killed

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GUTU - Mystery still shrouds the death of a Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) activist who died last week amid suspicions by his relatives
that he might have had his beer poisoned by state security agents.

Felix Gwafa (30), a staunch MDC supporter died in as yet unclear
circumstances last Friday after complaining of serious stomach pains and
vomiting blood while coming from a beer drink.
Gwafa, a University of Zimbabwe (UZ) graduate in History and
Development studies, was said to have insulted President Mugabe at a funeral
wake of Mukudzei Madondo, the son of prominent Gutu Business person and
Chief Gadzingo Madondo the day before, his relatives revealed.
Mukudzei died in a car accident near Panyanda Lodge, a few kilometers
out of Masvingo, along Beitbridge highway that links the town to South
Africa.
He was aged 28.
Some Gwafa family members who spoke on condition of anonymity said
Felix had made some remarks at Mukudzei's funeral which might have ruffled
the feathers of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) members
that were also present at the ceremony.

Parents Worry Over Exam Results Delay

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Masvingo- Parents in the province are complaining over the delay of
Grade Seven examination results which normally come out before the close of
the third term.

Most of the parents and guardians who should be securing Form One
places by now for their children, said they were panicking.

"We have been shocked by the delay of the results. Some of our
children did not write entrance tests so they are relying on their results
to secure for Form One places. Secondary school headmasters want the results
in order to accept our children but as it is now, we feel neglected by the
Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec)," said Tendai Chikuni.
Some parents want to buy school uniforms but due to current situation,
they are failing as they need to find the Form One place.

Most parents feared last minute shopping for school requirements at a
time when they would have already spend the money during the festive season.

In previous years, school uniforms were cheaper during the holidays
and the prices would hike towards the begging of the first term. Low income
earners are afraid that they will never be able to get all the requirements
under pressure.
 "Education is a set curriculum which should move within the set
period. Once we miss the target, we are doomed. I am a worried man because I
foresee a situation whereby several children fail to go to form one next
year.
 "Zimsec should have come in the open and announce that it has failed
to run the exams,"said a parent.

e exam results may take long time to be released if the markers'
demands are not met. This year's Ordinary and Advanced levels' June results
are not yet out. The school opening date for next term is still to be
announced.

SA move to send aid to Zim slammed

http://www.iol.co.za/

    December 28 2008 at 10:36AM

By Fiona Forde

The move by the government to channel aid to Zimbabwe, despite
assurances that South African taxpayers' money would never go to Robert
Mugabe's regime, has been slammed as grossly irresponsible.

Earlier in 2008, the government earmarked R300m in agricultural
assistance for the ailing nation but said the money would only be released
if a unity government was formed in accordance with the power-sharing
agreement.

In light of the worsening situation, however, a decision was reached
in Harare last Monday to begin to roll out the aid with immediate effect and
through the Zimbabwe Humanitarian and Development Assistance Framework
(ZHDAF), a structure that was established by the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to ensure that all aid falls into the right
hands. Short season grains and fertilisers were dispatched from Pretoria.

The Movement for Democratic Change said the move by South Africa
"legitimises the illegal regime that is currently in de facto control of
Zimbabwe", according to MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti, "and violates the
global agreement" of September to which all parties were signatories.

"We are not giving them money," presidency spokesperson Thabo Masebe
assured on Saturday, "but we are using the money to purchase the things they
need which is being administered through ZHDAF mechanisms on the ground".

However Biti says ZHDAF exists "only on paper and not in practice" and
that his party has not been consulted.

Although SADC Executive Secretary Tomas Salomao insists otherwise,
George Tadonki, the Zimbabwe country director for the UN's Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says he, too, has been kept in the
dark about the new ZHDAF structure.

"Several South African teams visited Zimbabwe in the past few months,"
Tadonki said. Later there was a call "for an independent SADC body to
monitor humanitarian assistance, but we are not yet fully informed about it.

There are no offices in place. We are not aware of any SADC staff
administering assistance".

Although Biti recognises that aid is badly needed, he said it can only
be extended in line with the September agreement brokered by former
president Thabo Mbeki "which SA has now decided to violate".

An estimated five million people are now in need of food aid,
according to Tadonki's office.

However, in the run-up to the March elections in 2008 there were
widespread reports of food aid being used as a political weapon and being
withheld from non-Mugabe supporters unless they crossed the divide.

"But now they wouldn't even do that. It will go straight to
themselves. Because patronage is no longer part of their lexicon. Now (the
regime) just abducts people," said Biti.

However, Masebe said he was confident the assistance would reach the
intended beneficiaries.

This article was originally published on page 2 of Cape Argus on
December 28, 2008

Desperate Zimbabweans pour into SAfrica for asylum

http://www.africasia.com

 MUSINA, South Africa, Dec 28 (AFP)

In the blazing midday sun, Fungai Lindlela watches as her baby pushes a
sticky ball of maize meal into her mouth in a makeshift refugee camp near
South Africa's border with Zimbabwe.

"I need asylum - it's too hard," Lindlela told AFP about how hunger forced
her to flee across the border with her 14-month-old daughter Tandiwa
strapped to her back.

Waiting in listless resignation, Lindlela is surrounded by a sea of people
seated on thin pieces of cardboard which have become a precious commodity in
Musina as a buffer with the dirt ground.

All here have the same goal: applying for political asylum at the mobile
refugee office set up by the South African government in July to cope with
the thousands of Zimbabweans pouring into the border town.

The unofficial camp sprung up at the doorstep of the office, with clothes
stretched over barbed wire fences and scant belongings mark where people
will bed down in the open.

By evening, long rows of smokey fires line the street where food is cooked
in blackened coffee tins by those who can afford it. But the biggest
activity is waiting.

Since July, the office has handled nearly 28,000 applications, mostly from
Zimbabweans, a South African official told AFP on condition of anonymity,
giving the figures up to December 10.

"You can no longer call this a political crisis, it's far much more. It has
become a humanitarian crisis," he said, pointing to the scores of people
waiting outside the office.

In the asylum queue was a woman who was forced to leave her seven-year-old
son behind when she left her home for the border and paid smugglers 50 rand
(5.1 dollars, 3.6 euros) to get into South Africa.

"I couldn't take him with me -- at least I could carry this one with me,"
said the 32-year-old woman who asked her name not be used, pointing to her
one-year-old daughter Mercy crawling about the floor. "It took me almost six
months to make up my mind."

The final triggers were starvation, political harassment from the Robert
Mugabe regime, and Zimbabwe's mind-boggling inflation which has made it
impossible to withdraw enough money to buy a loaf of bread.

The long asylum queues move to an empty livestock handling area which people
enter in batches, moving slowly through the narrow corrals to be handed a
polystyrene container of hot stew and thick maize meal porridge.

For many, it is the only meal of the day, donated by a local church and
international aid groups who assist with basic needs like organising
sanitary towels for the women.

After eating, the asylum seekers sleep in the dirt field or on the street.
Blessing and Garikai Ngumdu and their two-year-old daughter Shalom -- named
in the hope of peace in their country -- sleep metres (yards) from the gate
to the refugee office.

"It's surviving, not living," Blessing said about life in Zimbabwe.

A crackdown by Mugabe's security forces and supporters was cited by many
Zimbabweans in Musina as reasons for leaving the country.

Soldiers were acting as if "there was a war," beating people on the streets,
Kenneth Sibanda from Chinhoyi near Harare said.

"I don't have hope for my country," said the 23-year-old. "At first people
had hope, they thought maybe things were going to change but now the
situation is getting worse."

"In Zimbabwe, if you survive for one day, you thank God because you don't
have hope for tomorrow."

Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate, last put in July at 231
million percent, and faces chronic food shortages that have left nearly half
the population in need of aid.

A recent cholera outbreak has also claimed about 1,200 lives.

"Mr Mugabe and his thugs, the youth of ZANU-PF, they just destroy everything
everywhere," said Challenge Ncube, who left Gokwe fearing for his life,
after he was targeted as an opposition supporter.

"Today's sleeping in cardboard boxes is better than living with Mugabe in
Zimbabwe because in Zimbabwe you can't live freely," said the 20-year-old.

Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 27th December 2008

There was a surprisingly big turnout given the freezing east wind.  With the credit crunch there were fewer people around than normal, despite desperate post-Christmas sales. Sue of our management team, who helps woman the front table, was so cold she went off to buy a pair of long socks.  She was struggling to put them on when one of the Vigil people – who works as a carer – came over and gave her a hand amid much hilarity.

Worried about our loved ones at home, we spent an anxious Christmas trying to work out what games Mugabe was playing with his cholera denial and abductions. It was good to be back together again to share information – and celebrate the first birthday of Mandla, another Vigil baby, son of Julius Mutyambizi and Addley Nyamutaka.  We enjoyed his birthday cake.  Patson Muzuwa said the Vigil was becoming a dating bureau given the number of marriages and offspring of people who had met outside the Embassy.

We had another South African passer-by who – initially supportive – was taken aback by our petition calling for the 2010 World Cup to be moved from South Africa.  “I am not going to sign that” he said. We continue to be surprised that our South African friends think football is more important than Zimbabwean lives.

We were all depressed to hear that the UN had not collected enough money to feed Zimbabwe. The Vigil again urges the European Union to help. The money needed could come from government-to-government aid from the EU to SADC countries. Malawi receives some £70m a year of this type of aid from Britain alone. The Malawi government is a great fan of Mugabe. Surely the UK could divert the money from Malawi to our desperate families in Zimbabwe. The Malawians could ask Mugabe for help instead . . . .

Nicolas Negoce of Vox Africa, a new French-African TV station, was with us and interviewed Luka Phiri of the Vigil management team. Another member of the team, Fungayi Mabhunu, is to do a studio interview with them later this week.

We were encouraged by a young man who came to us for the first time and said how much he had enjoyed being with us and he would bring friends to future Vigils. Another visitor was Jonathan Cox of the Citizens for Sanctuary Campaign who asked Chipo Chaya to get supporters to fill in CV forms. The plan is to hand over the CVs to the government to show that Zimbabweans have skills and want to work and make a contribution in the UK.

It has been a busy year and here’s the first part of our annual report – the highlights of the first six months of the year – taken from the Vigil Diary.  Next week we will do the same for July – December.

·   19^th January – A massive and very busy Vigil.  We estimate that at least 500 were there, filling the entire piazza outside Zimbabwe House.  Among them were MDC members who had marched from Trafalgar Square behind a huge banner “Zimbabweans want free and fair elections 2008”.

·   16^th February – The Vigil was joined by activists from WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) marking  the annual Valentine’s Day protest.  

·   17^th February – Vigil members attended a church service in Speldhurst, Kent, addressed by Sebastian Bakare, Bishop of Harare.

·   8^th March – Singing and toy-toying behind placards reading ‘Dignity! Democracy Zimbabwe’, a stream of people joined the Vigil after a rally in Trafalgar Square. The rally was organised by ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) on International Women’s Day in support of women in Zimbabwe. 

·   29^th March – About 500 people came to the Vigil for our mock election. We were outside the Embassy from 6 am to 6 pm, with some people joining us from a Prayer Vigil for Zimbabwe at Southwark Cathedral.  The focus of attention was Fungayi Mabhunu wearing a Mugabe mask and accompanied by Gugu Tutani-Ndlovu as Grace.  Fungayi really got into the swing of things, stuffing a giant ballot box with votes reading ‘Mugabe for Murder’, ‘Mugabe for Torture’, Mugabe for Starvation’ etc. 

·   29^th March – launch of Glasgow Vigil.  They meet every other week. 

·   17^th-19^th April – Three days of demonstrations outside the Embassy culminated in the relaunch of the Vigil’s petition calling for action against the Southern African Development Community for their failure to hold Mugabe to agreed election protocols.  Several well-known musicians joined the Vigil, among them Lucky Moyo, formerly of Black Unfolozi, and Willard Karanga, formerly with Thomas Mapfumo’s band.  Vigil supporters were also out in force on Friday for a demonstration organised by Action for Southern Africa, the successor to the Anti-Apartheid Movement, to mark Zimbabwe’s Independence Day. There were also representatives of Zimbabwean youth groups who earlier  that day had invaded a meeting in London addressed by  Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein of Tanzania, which is the current chair of the AU.  They challenged him about the organisation’s attitude to Zimbabwe. The day before, on Thursday, the MDC in the UK staged a protest against the rigged elections outside the Embassy and South Africa House.  Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Embassy itself had been invaded by a group of Zimbabweans – all ladies except for one brave man.

·   3^rd May – We got a lot of media coverage of our demonstration in protest at Mugabe’s post-election reign of terror.  Fugayi Mabhunu gave three television and radio interviews while Stendrick Zvorwadza of our partner organisation Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) was on the radio a couple of times.  ROHR activists were at the Vigil in force to express their abhorrence of the violence being inflicted on opposition supporters.  

·   24^th May – The Vigil joined in a ‘stand up for Zimbabwe’ campaign organised by a coalition of African civil society organizations who are calling on people across the world to press the Southern African Development Community,  African Union and the United Nations to act decisively to end systematic political violence in Zimbabwe. More than 200 people joined us.  We also held a mass 'lie down' as a way of graphically illustrating how many more people might die if the crisis isn't resolved. So many people wanted to take part that we had 3 waves of people lying down. .

·   9^th June – The former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has asked for forgiveness on behalf of South Africa for the recent xenophobic violence against foreigners.  He was speaking  at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.  Turning to Zimbabwe, Archbishop Tutu said it used to be a showpiece in Africa: “It has now turned into the most horrendous nightmare”. He accepted a copy of a petition from the Vigil calling on President Mbeki to stop supporting Mugabe and allow a change of government in Zimbabwe so Zimbabwean exiles can return home.

·   12^th June – the Vigil protested outside the South Africa High Commission on the day when the Zimbabwe situation was to be discussed by the UN Security Council.  Unsurprisingly, South Africa insisted that only the humanitarian situation be discussed: the political situation was not important enough.  The same attitude was reflected by the Hugh Commission, which initially refused to accept our petition to President Mbeki.  It was pointed out to them what bad public relations this was. Then they changed their mind and allowed one person to take the petition in to reception. Accompanying it was the following letter to President Mbeki: “We have been horrified by the recent xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans and other foreigners in South Africa and enclose a petition signed on Saturday 7^th June by people passing by the Zimbabwe Vigil. The situation can only get worse if Zanu PF is allowed to cling to power.  More and more Zimbabweans will have no choice but to flee.” The demonstration made a strong impression on a Thursday lunch hour in Trafalgar Square. The demonstration reached its height when, singing and dancing, all fingers were pointed at the South African High Commission.

·   21^st June – Supporters had asked us to dedicate this Saturday as a prayer vigil and no one could fail to be moved by the outpouring of sorrow.  Many thanks to Sally Sakala, a gospel musician and worshipper at God Solution Centre who led the impassioned prayers and hymn singing.  We were happy to be joined by the Reverend Richard Carter of St Martin-in-the-Fields. 

·   23^rd June – A demonstration for democracy, rights and freedom for Zimbabwe organised by the TUC and ACTSA was supported by the Vigil.

·   25^th June – Several Vigil supporters were among about a dozen demonstrators who gathered at Hyde Park as Nelson Mandela arrived for a dinner with leaders including Gordon Brown and former President Bill Clinton. They held up a banner saying "Mandela ignores Mugabe's terror. Shame", "Mandela speak out. Support a free Zimbabwe". They were pleased when Mr Mandela waved at them.

·   26^th June – We had a wonderful encounter with Nelson Mandela today. Vigil management team member Fungayi Mabhunu joined human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at Mr Mandela’s hotel in London. They were there to alert people who might have pitched up for the planned picket cancelled because of Mr Mandela’s welcome comments on the Zimbabwe situation. Fungayi, speaking in hastily-learned Xhosa, said how pleased he was that Mr Mandela had spoken out about Zimbabwe and asked him to continue speaking out. The Vigil had planned to picket the concert for Mr Mandela’s 90^th birthday in Hyde Park on Friday but in view of his support any message that we will give will be one of gratitude that he has spoken out.

·   26^th June – A Service of Solidarity with Torture Survivors of Zimbabwe on UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum was supported by the Vigil.

·   27^th June -- On Election Run-off day some 150 people gathered outside the Zimbabwe Embassy to protest against the death of democracy in Zimbabwe.  The centre-piece of the demonstration was a black-draped coffin which was presented to the nearby South African High Commission, containing a second tranche of our petition calling on President Mbeki to stop supporting Mugabe.  The South Africans would not allow our nominated person to present the petition because he was wearing our Mugabe mask so it was presented instead by his dear wife Grace dressed from top-to-toe in Harrods.  The crowd outside the High Commission shouted “Mbeki must go, Mbeki out, out, out”. Vigil supporters had walked from the Zimbabwe Embassy to the South African High Commission behind the coffin.  They carried placards reading “Died for Democracy in Zimbabwe.” 

Next week: our report on the second half of 2008 and the growth of ROHR.

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/

FOR THE RECORD: 145 signed the register.

FOR YOUR DIARY:

·   Next Glasgow Vigil. Saturday, 3^rd January 2008, 2 – 6 pm. Venue: Argyle Street Precinct. For more information contact: Patrick Dzimba, 07990 724 137, Tafadzwa Musemwa 07954 344 123 and Roggers Fatiya 07769 632 687

·   Unite Zimnite. Saturday, 24^th January 2009 at 7 pm. King’s College London’s student-led charity Project Zimbabwe is holding a fundraiser for Zimbabwe. The event is an African themed open mic night with over 8 acts coming to perform.  Money raised will go towards their MedYouth Project, a life skills programme being taught to school children in Bulawayo next summer. Venue: Function Room, Walkabout, Temple. Cost: £10/£5NUS. For more information, check: http://www.kclprojectzimbabwe.blogspot.com/

·   Zimbabwe Association’s Women’s Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays 10.30 am – 4 pm. Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Nearest underground: Finsbury Park. For more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Vigil Co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.

Vigil co-ordinator

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

Sign the petition

Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 12:19 AM
Subject: Global citizens for Zimbabwe!

Hi,

I just signed a message to the people of Zimbabwe letting them know we stand
defiantly with their quest for democracy, security and justice and I thought
you would want to join this global campaign. If we join voices as citizens
around the world and stand with them in their struggle − they will know that
they are not alone and remain strong in the belief that change is still
possible. Click here to sign the message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_citizens_for_zimbabwe/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1

Thanks!

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Dear friends,

As we approach the holiday season, the people of Zimbabwe need our
solidarity and support. For many, this will be their tenth New Year's Eve
living in fear, their third without clean water, and their first amidst the
spiralling cholera epidemic. So many have died that it is no longer clear
what is the population of the country.

Ultimately, it is the people of Zimbabwe who will bring change. Right now,
our friends on the ground say that crushing hardship and isolation are the
greatest threat −− that the most powerful contribution we can make is to cry
out our solidarity with their struggle, and let them know that they are not
alone.

While Mugabe and his generals might control the borders and the newspapers,
the airwaves are still free. Sign our global message of solidarity now −− it
will be turned into a radio advertisement and broadcast across Zimbabwe in
the new year−−and then if you choose, write or record your own ad for
broadcast using our online tools:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_citizens_for_zimbabwe/?CLICKTRACK

Zimbabwe's people are wracked by a cholera crisis which has already killed
over 1000 people. Three months after Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangarai signed a power−sharing agreement, Mugabe's still clings to
power, even denying there is an epidemic. And as the regime cracks down,
with increasing numbers of journalists, human rights defenders and ordinary
people being abducted this week, the prospect of a unity government seems
more remote than ever. The Zimbabweans who risked their lives to vote
against Mugabe in March this year are exhausted, hungry and terrorised by
violence.

We have campaigned throughout the year on different levels with a range of
targets, tactics and strategies, but Zimbabwe will only change if, amongst
the dread and fear, Zimbabweans themselves believe they have the power to
overcome hopelessness and lawlessness.

With our radio−broadcast messages of international solidarity, let's let
them know our eyes are on Zimbabwe and send them hope and strength to carry
on strong into 2009. Our voices aim to uplift Zimbabwean people who have
lost their hope or loved ones, helping a people who are desperate for
democracy and ravaged by hunger and disease. These messages will be heard by
hundreds of thousands across Zimbabwe and the region: sign our collective
message here, then leave your personal message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_citizens_for_zimbabwe/?CLICKTRACK

It is up to us to get our messages of support to the people of Zimbabwe. As
citizens of the world, our only interest in ending the Mugabe era is that
which led us to struggle in our own lands for political freedoms, and which
brought many of us to stand with the South African people in the
anti−apartheid struggle: a common humanity, a duty to fight repression and a
commitment to the universality of rights. Let the Zimbabwean people know we
stand with them:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_citizens_for_zimbabwe/?CLICKTRACK

In hope and solidarity,

Ben, Ricken, Alice, Brett, Pascal, Paul, Graziela, Paula, Luis, Iain and the
whole Avaaz team

P.S. For a report on Avaaz's campaigning so far, see:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2