The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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By Holger Jensen
News International Editor
  Seizing on the global war against terrorism as a convenient excuse to wipe
out all opposition, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is practicing his own
brand of terrorism to win re-election next year.
  The 77-year-old African leader, himself branded a terrorist in the
guerrilla war that preceded Zimbabwe's 1980 independence, has in rapid
succession:
  — Labeled the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the country's
white farmers “terrorists,” telling them their “days are numbered.”
  — Assumed sweeping “presidential powers” that will allow him to ban the
MDC, or jail its leadership, and confiscate 90 percent of all remaining
white-owned farmland.
  — Accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair of funding a “terrorist plot”
against his government through a British pro-democracy group seeking to
educate rural Zimbabwean voters about the March presidential election.
  — Advised six foreign journalists and a South African human rights
campaigner that they too will be treated as “terrorists” if they continue to
file “false reports” on the rising level of intimidation and political
violence by Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF Party.
  (Amnesty International says the reports are not false. In October it
reported that “state-sponsored repression, including political killings and
torture, continues to worsen in Zimbabwe.”)
  — Ordered all journalists working for state newspapers, radio and
television to support ZANU-PF or resign.
  — Banned all foreign election monitors and pre-election observers.
  — Tightened electoral rules that will oblige voters to prove one year's
residence and deny voting rights to Zimbabweans abroad.
  — Appealed for $365 million in emergency food aid but forbade
non-governmental organizations from distributing it on grounds that they
might “smuggle election monitors into the country under the guise of
humanitarian reflief.”
  — Prepared a new Public Order and Security Bill to deal with “acts of
insurgency, banditry, sabotage, terrorism, treason and subversion.” The bill,
still to be approved by Parliament, makes it a crime to “undermine the
authority of the president” or publish statements “prejudicial to the
State,” punishable by life imprisonment or death.
  MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has survived three assassination attempts
since he announced his intention to run against Mugabe, says the president's
actions are those of a desperate man. “He knows he would lose a fair election
so he is stacking the deck.”
  That may well be true. The MDC has a large following among the nation's
urban blacks and few remaining whites, who are united in their disgust of
Mugabe's corrupt and authoritarian rule. It nearly won last year's
parliamentary elections, despite a massive campaign of intimidation that
killed 31 people.
Mugabe hopes to win the rural vote by moving land-hungry peasants and
thuggish “war veterans” — many too young to have fought in the Rhodesian War
— onto farms confiscated from whites. But in doing so he has also displaced
350,000 black farm workers and their families, who have lost not only their
homes and jobs but also free food, medical care and education for their
children.
  Zimbabwe's economy has imploded since Mugabe's “veterans” launched a
violent series of farm invasions in February 2000. Poverty has doubled to 75
percent of the population of 13 million, unemployment is nearing 80 percent,
inflation has hit 100 percent and there are severe food and fuel shortages.
  The United Nations says 1 million Zimbabweans are starving and expects the
number to rise to 3 million next year.
  Because most commercial farms have either been occupied by squatters or
gazetted for seizure, they are not planting key crops such as maize, the
staple food, or tobacco, the chief export earner. And cattlemen have had to
slaughter 250,000 cattle, 20 percent of the national herd, because their
grazing land was burned by farm invaders.
  “This,” says John Robertson, an economist in Harare, is “the work of a
madman.”
 
 
 
     _______________________________________________________________
     Copyright 2000 Holger Jensen.
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CNN

Civil disobedience for reform in Zimbabwe
December 2, 2001 Posted: 2042 GMT


HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Unionists, priests, and thousands of
representatives from civic groups launched a civil disobedience campaign
Sunday to force Zimbabwe's government to implement political reforms and
stage free presidential elections early next year.

Zimbabwe has been gripped by economic and political turmoil for nearly two
years since government-backed militants began invading white owned farms,
and the appeal for mass action by the National Constitutional Assembly will
further heighten tensions.

Risking arrest, the assembly's leaders agreed to a nationwide program of
civil disobedience, strikes and tax boycotts.

"We will proceed regardless of the consequences," said Douglas Mwonzora, the
assembly's spokesman.

The assembly last year successfully campaigned against a constitutional
amendment proposed by President Robert Mugabe to enable him to redistribute
thousands of white-owned farms to landless blacks.

The proposal was defeated in a referendum, but Mugabe ignored it and
condoned the subsequent seizure of 1,700 white-owned farms by ruling party
militants as a justified response to the legacy of inequitable land
ownership left by colonial rule. The government also introduced legislation
enabling it to seize several thousand more farms.

With his popularity fast eroding, Mugabe has attempted to squash dissent via
an often-violent campaign against the opposition and the independent media.

"What we have seen so far is just the beginning," said Mwonzora.

Lovemore Madhuku, a law lecturer who chairs the assembly, said it was
fruitless to hope that Mugabe would respond to diplomatic pressure for
political reform.

Delegates attending an assembly gathering Saturday adopted a new draft
constitution, which proposes boosting Parliament's powers, entrenching human
rights and limiting the power of the presidency.

However they rejected Madhuku's proposals calling for the abolition of the
death penalty, for abortion to be made available on demand and for
homosexuality to be decriminalized

"We are here producing a document for popular mobilization," said Madhuku.
"These were areas of disappointment but the people have a right to
(determine) their own constitution."

Trade unions, churches, women's groups, professional bodies and other
organizations participated in the assembly meeting.

The assembly has been pilloried by Mugabe for operating with foreign donor
funding.

Speaking at a tree planting ceremony at Masiiwa, 112 kilometers (70 miles)
northeast of Harare Saturday, Mugabe said he was not afraid of losing power
in the upcoming poll.

"The opposition will never win the elections under whatever circumstances,"
the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper reported him as saying.

Analysts and opposition party officials say it is highly unlikely Mugabe
will allow a free and fair poll.

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Foreign and domestic pressure grows on Mugabe

 HARARE, Dec. 2 — President Robert Mugabe faced growing foreign pressure on
Sunday as South African President Thabo Mbeki apparently distanced himself
from him and the United States appeared close to imposing sanctions on
Zimbabwe.

       At home, Mugabe's opponents threatened to launch a series of mass
protests to force him to accept constitutional reforms, and critics
denounced a media bill which they say is meant to curb press freedom in the
run up to presidential elections.
       On his part, Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail newspaper reported that Mugabe
had invited a regional ministerial committee to audit progress made on his
controversial land reform programme.
       The December 10 visit by the six-member team from the 14-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC) comes amid reports that Mbeki
has been pressing for a special meeting of the SADC task force on the
Zimbabwe crisis.
       Critics say Mugabe has largely ignored a Nigerian-brokered agreement
that his government signed in September to end often violent invasions of
white-owned farms by his supporters, but his ministers say the government is
respecting the accord.
       ''The invitation of the committee is said to have been inspired by a
growing recognition that since the Abuja agreement the fast-track
resettlement programme has gone on well according to the laws and
constitution of Zimbabwe,'' the Sunday Mail said.
PRESSURE FROM ABROAD But others on the continent appear unconvinced.
       South African government officials said Mbeki is making it plain to
Mugabe he should no longer expect his protection and must work to end a
crisis threatening the economies of his neighbours.
       ''He (Mbeki) wants Mugabe to know that he should not expect
protection any more. Up to now we have rallied behind him,'' one senior
official told South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper.
       A senior official in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said: ''We in ZANU-PF
believe these remarks cannot be true because if they are, then that would be
quite sad.''
       ''President Mbeki, more than anyone else, knows too well that this
region and our country in particular was economically and militarily
destabilised by apartheid,'' the official told the Sunday Mail.
       Pressure also seemed to be mounting outside the continent.
       Zimbabwe's private Standard newspaper reported on Sunday that the
U.S. House of Representatives was likely to pass a bill this week imposing
travel and investment sanctions against Mugabe and his associates for
allegedly sponsoring political violence in the country.
       The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill was endorsed by the
Africa sub-committee of the House International Relations Committee last
Wednesday, and the Standard quoted sources in Washington saying the bill
should be passed by the full house on December 4.
       On Saturday, Mugabe told a rally his land seizures would continue
''with or without sanctions.''


PRESSURE FROM HOME
       Mugabe, 77, and in power since the former Rhodesia gained
independence from Britain in 1980 is expected to face the stiffest challenge
of his career from Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement of Democratic Change in
next year's elections.
       The MDC nearly defeated Mugabe in general parliamentary elections
last year despite a violent campaign blamed on the ruling ZANU-PF which left
at least 31 people dead.
       On Sunday, a coalition of Zimbabwean civic groups campaigning for a
new constitution said they would present Mugabe a draft democratic
constitution by Christmas and call for mass protests in the new year to
force him to adopt it.
       ''We are dealing with a dictatorship determined to hang onto power
through hook and crook, and we have no option but to try all kinds of
protests to be heard,'' Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), told reporters.
       Others launched attacks on a news media bill the government plans to
launch.
       Zimbabwe's Standard newspaper said the bill, which threatens jail
terms for journalists who violate new regulations, largely bars foreign
nationals from working as correspondents in the country and comes with a
strict licensing system, amounted to ''absolute madness.''
       ''Should the bill be passed into law in its present form, then
clearly a major showdown is in the making between the government and the
independent press,'' the newspaper said.

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Zimbabwe opposition woos voters in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 2 — Zimbabwe's main opposition group launched a campaign
on Sunday to persuade millions of supporters living in South Africa to
return home and claim their right to vote in next year's presidential
elections.
Zimbabwe is due to hold the elections by April 2002. Robert Mugabe, 77, and
in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is expected to face the
stiffest challenge yet from Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change.
       The MDC estimates some three million Zimbabweans live in neighbouring
South Africa, most of them opposition supporters.
       But they could be denied a vote if proposed changes to electoral laws
tabled in parliament last month sail through.
       ''You must fight for Zimbabwe. You must go home and claim your voting
rights. We want you to prepare yourselves to go back and vote,'' MDC Deputy
President Gibson Sibanda told a group of about 300 Zimbabweans in downtown
Johannesburg.
       The proposed changes ban private organisations from voter education
and local independent election monitors.
       Voters must also produce documents to prove their residence. Anyone
who has not lived in Zimbabwe for 12 straight months will not be able to
vote, excluding millions of Zimbabweans abroad.
       The proposed changes have been condemned by civic groups who say they
favour the government and threatened on Sunday to launch mass protests to
force it to accept a new constitution.
       Despair, anger and frustration filled the air at Sunday's meeting in
the crime-ridden Berea suburb in Johannesburg at what many in the mainly
male audience felt was a hopeless economic and political situation at home.
       Some of them have been away for more than a decade and for many, only
a change of government would make them return.
       Stomping and clapping, they sang liberation songs and several called
for an uprising if the MDC loses the election.
       ''If the MDC fails to win through the ballot then the MDC must come
back to ask us to take arms,'' said Justin Nkomo.
       Nkomo, who fought in Zimbabwe's liberation war, has lived in South
Africa for 15 years. He said he was arrested shortly after independence and
jailed for nine months for being a suspected dissident. Others said they
could not afford to go home to vote.
       ''Some Zimbabweans have the right papers but a lot are border
jumpers. I left Zimbabwe because of economic problems,'' said Njabulo
Ngwenya, 25, a former book-keeper, now jobless.
       Sibanda said Tsvangirai's MDC would push for international pressure
on Mugabe to stop the proposed electoral laws.
       The movement nearly defeated Mugabe in parliamentary elections last
year despite a violent campaign the MDC blamed on Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF
which left at least 31 people dead.
       Mugabe plunged the country into its worst economic and political
crisis in 2000 with a government-backed campaign to seize white-owned farms
for re-distribution to landless blacks
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Mbeki Seeks to Distance S.Africa From Mugabe


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki is making it
plain to Robert Mugabe that the Zimbabwean leader should no longer expect
his protection, government officials said.
Explaining South Africa's tougher stance over the escalating Zimbabwean
crisis this week, officials said Mbeki's patience was wearing thin with his
country's neighbor, the Sunday Times newspaper reported sources as saying.

"He (Mbeki) wants Mugabe to know that he should not expect protection any
more. Up to now we have rallied behind him," one senior official told the
paper.

Other government sources told Reuters they could not expand on the remarks,
but said the comments were fair.

"It's a nice, accurate account of what's going on behind the scenes," one
said.

Mbeki told foreign journalists on Thursday that the situation in Zimbabwe
was worsening and may deteriorate further if presidential elections next
year were not free and fair.

"Clearly in a situation in which people get disenfranchised, in which people
get beaten up so that they don't act according to their political
convictions, obviously there can't be free elections," Mbeki said when asked
about Zimbabwe's deteriorating political environment.

Officials said the situation in Zimbabwe was putting increased pressure on
Mbeki, who was receiving regular phone calls from Western leaders asking him
to get a message through to Mugabe, the Sunday Times reported.

They said Mbeki called Malawi's President Bakili Muluzi this week, asking
him to convene a meeting of the Southern African Development Community's
(SADC) special task team on Zimbabwe.

MORE ACTION DEMANDED

South African opposition parties welcomed Mbeki's more outspoken stance, but
said the president needed to take concrete action to ensure free and fair
elections in Zimbabwe next year.

"SADC leaders now need to consider what actions they might undertake to back
up their tougher words," Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said in a
statement.

The New National Party (NNP), which recently agreed a power-sharing deal
with Mbeki's ruling African National Congress, went further and said Mbeki
must withdraw all support from Mugabe to ensure he was not re-elected as
president.

"Mugabe has become a liability that neither South Africa nor the rest of the
SADC countries can afford," NNP spokesman Boy Geldenhuys said.

In Zimbabwe, the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper quoted a senior
official of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party as saying it was "quite sad" if
Mbeki made the statements attributed to him.

"We in ZANU-PF believe these remarks cannot be true because if they are,
then that would be quite sad," said the official.

"President Mbeki, more than anyone else, knows too well that this region and
our country in particular was economically and militarily destabilized by
apartheid," the official added.

He said it was curious that the ANC was changing its policy toward Zimbabwe
soon after agreeing to cooperate with the NNP, which created and ruled South
Africa during apartheid.

Mugabe, 77, has held power since the former British colony of Rhodesia
gained independence from London in 1980.

Critics say his campaign to extend power has been marked by a campaign of
intimidation against voters, attempts to disenfranchise Zimbabwean voters
who do not live in Zimbabwe, most of whom support the opposition, and moves
to muzzle media criticism.

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BBC
Sunday, 2 December, 2001, 22:01 GMT
New challenge to Mugabe
Zimbabwean voters at 2000 parliamentary election
The opposition fears voting numbers will be slashed
Civil rights activists in Zimbabwe have threatened to launch a campaign of civil disobedience in January unless the government implements political reforms and ensures next year's presidential election is free and fair.

The chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, Lovemore Madhuku, announced the move after a meeting of the NCA, which is a coalition of local churches, unions and human rights groups, on Saturday.


We think we need change of the constitutional framework before you can go into an election, and we want to make that point in January

Lovemore Madhuku
chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly

He said the government should expect mass protests and work boycotts if it rejected a new constitution drafted by the NCA.

President Robert Mugabe has predicted he will win a convincing victory at the election, due before the end of March, while the opposition accuses him of changing electoral legislation in his favour.

Opposition spreads

An estimated 2,000 people attended Saturday's meeting on the proposed new constitution, which stipulates the separation of powers between a non-executive president elected by parliament and an executive prime minister elected by popular vote.

The new constitution would also abolish the death penalty for treason, though not for murder.


The opposition will never win the elections under whatever circumstances

President Robert Mugabe

"We think we need change of the constitutional framework before you can go into an election, and we want to make that point in January," Mr Madhuku said.

The BBC's Rageh Omar reports from the South African city of Johannesburg that the NCA meeting shows resistance to Mr Mugabe's rule is not confined to his political opponents, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"This weekend's threat of a widespread national campaign of disobedience by civic organisations has highlighted other focal points of disaffection to the current Zimbabwean government policies," he says.

The Zimbabwean authorities last week briefly detained Mr Madhuku and 32 other NCA members when they tried to demonstrate against new election rules they consider undemocratic.

Campaign abroad

The MDC has accused Mr Mugabe of trying to steal victory by changing the electoral laws in his favour.

The opposition is outraged by a bar on postal voting for millions of Zimbabweans living abroad voting and rigid new rules demanding multiple proof of residency for urban voters.

It has launched a campaign to persuade millions of its supporters living in South Africa to return home and claim their right to vote.

The MDC estimates that about three million Zimbabweans live there and most are opposition supporters.

"You must fight for Zimbabwe," MDC Deputy President Gibson Sibanda told a rally in Johannesburg on Sunday.

"You must go home and claim your voting rights. We want you to prepare yourselves to go back and vote."

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Guardian

Zimbabwe Unionists Urge Defiance

Sunday December 2, 2001 9:10 PM


HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Unionists, priests, and thousands of representatives
from civic groups on Sunday announced a civil disobedience campaign to force
Zimbabwe's government to implement political reforms and stage free
presidential elections early next year.

Zimbabwe has been gripped by economic and political turmoil for nearly two
years since government-backed militants began invading white owned farms,
and the appeal for mass action by the National Constitutional Assembly could
further heighten tensions.

Risking arrest, assembly leaders agreed to embark on a nationwide program of
civil disobedience, strikes and tax boycotts beginning in January, unless
the government gives in to their demands for reform.

``We will proceed regardless of the consequences,'' said Douglas Mwonzora,
the assembly's spokesman.

The assembly last year successfully campaigned against a constitutional
amendment proposed by President Robert Mugabe to enable him to redistribute
thousands of white-owned farms to landless blacks.

The proposal was defeated in a referendum, but Mugabe ignored it and
condoned the subsequent seizure of 1,700 white-owned farms by ruling party
militants as a justified response to the legacy of inequitable land
ownership left by colonial rule.

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Zimbabweans rise up against Mugabe



AP - Unionists, priests, and thousands of representatives from civic groups
have announced a civil disobedience campaign to force Zimbabwe's government
to implement political reforms and stage free presidential elections early
next year.

Zimbabwe has been gripped by economic and political turmoil for nearly two
years since government-backed militants began invading white-owned farms,
and the appeal for mass action by the National Constitutional Assembly will
further heighten tensions.

Risking arrest, the assembly's leaders agreed to embark on nationwide
program of civil disobedience, strikes and tax boycotts from next month,
unless the government accedes to their demands for reform.

"We will proceed regardless of the consequences," said Douglas Mwonzora, the
assembly's spokesman.

The assembly last year successfully campaigned against a constitutional
amendment proposed by President Robert Mugabe to enable him to redistribute
thousands of white-owned farms to landless blacks.

The proposal was defeated in a referendum, but Mugabe ignored it and
condoned the subsequent seizure of 1,700 white-owned farms by ruling party
militants as a justified response to the legacy of inequitable land
ownership left by colonial rule.

The government also introduced legislation enabling it to seize several
thousand more farms.

With his popularity fast eroding, Mugabe has attempted to squash dissent via
an often-violent campaign against the opposition and the independent media.

"What we have seen so far is just the beginning," said Mwonzora.

Lovemore Madhuku, a law lecturer who chairs the assembly, said it was
fruitless to hope that Mugabe would respond to diplomatic pressure for
political reform.

Delegates attending an assembly gathering on Saturday adopted a new draft
constitution, which proposes boosting Parliament's powers, entrenching human
rights and limiting the power of the presidency.

However, they rejected Madhuku's proposals calling for the abolition of the
death penalty, for abortion to be made available on demand and for
homosexuality to be decriminalised.

"We are here producing a document for popular mobilisation," said Madhuku.
"These were areas of disappointment but the people have a right to
(determine) their own constitution."

Trade unions, churches, women's groups, professional bodies and other
organisations participated in the assembly meeting.

The assembly has been pilloried by Mugabe for operating with foreign donor
funding.

Speaking at a tree planting ceremony at Masiiwa, 112km north-east of Harare
on Saturday, Mugabe said he was not afraid of losing power in the upcoming
poll.

"The opposition will never win the elections under whatever circumstances,"
the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper reported him as saying.

Analysts and opposition party officials say it is highly unlikely Mugabe
will allow a free and fair poll.
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Zim Standard

Local Insight: Writers and politicians

By Chenjerai Hove
IMAGINE a situation where all independent journalists and foreign
correspondents are on the same plane, flying to some place for some
purpose—Geoff Nyarota, William Bango, Bill Saidi, Trevor Ncube, Iden
Wetherall, Basildon Peta, Mark Chavunduka, Ray Choto, Chido Makunike,
Chenjerai Hove, Francis Mhlongwa, David Ma-sunda, Andrew Meldrum and many
more. They are on flight 2001, to some place.

Then the plane crashes. I can tell you there would be celebrations in town,
with one recently announced composer of music also a manager of football
teams going all out to script a song and stage it for the cameras, the whole
nation watching and wondering how it is that a prominent politician could
celebrate human death.

If your imagination is good, imagine all those gentlemen and ladies,
critical writers and journalists, being discovered to be staying in the same
block of flats, 50 floors up. The tragedy at the Twin Towers of the United
States would be nothing compared to what some over-enthusiastic Zanu PF
political jihhadists would do to us.

The fact of the matter is that: you do not have to be a rocket scientist to
know that critical journalists and writers are the most hated in our
country. Even Nyarota could tell you that he couldn’t ever stand still and
admire the beauty of the setting sun on a Sunday afternoon.

The Zimbabwean government has put on hold all money for development projects
to ensure that the biggest development is the elimination of the writers and
opposition politicians, plus a few innocent souls who have the inclination
to be caught up in the crossfire of our politics.

I have always argued that the best that could happen to a country is
vigorous and intense criticism from the ruled. Being ruled does not mean
that one has to become a victim in his own country. The country deserves to
have its share of criticism to avoid decay.

The mirror that shows your ugly heart and face does not deserve to be broken
, it should be respected for showing the viewer the reality of the place.
Don’t break the mirror, for goodness sake, go for a make over or visit the
plastic surgeon and have your face reconstructed.

Many years ago, I watched on TV as President Robert Mugabe fumed about a
Sunday Mail article which detailed stories about how Zimbabwean students who
had tested HIV positive in Cuba were being sent back home. He threatened to
“deal with the hand that held the pen”. Since I knew the journalist
involved, an editor actually, I could only commiserate with him. He had
surely lost his job. In my wildest imagination and just from watching the
speech of the president in front of the Cuban foreign minister who had
actually lodged the complain about the article, I saw the man being
amputated.

What perhaps the president forgot was that once one is in public office,
he/she is open to all kinds of criticism. And the best way of handling
criticism is not to put in place vicious laws which transform the country
into some form of maximum security prison. The best medicine is the gift of
laughter, to be able to laugh with your critics, to share the stories, both
weird and juicy, about the vagaries of being in office, the temptations
therein, and how to resist them.

Political maturity requires that the ruling party and the opposition sit
down and drink Chibuku together and joke on how the opposition lost
narrowly, the mistakes they made and the opposition, for its part, boasting
about how the ruling party was almost sent into opposition.

I am amazed by this new version of ‘terrorists’ we now read about in the
media. I know the ruling party were heavily ‘terrorised’ when they realised
that they almost lost the 2000 parliamentary elections. But to put the
opposition and the truthful journalists in the same league as the Twin
Towers hijackers, is to waste language.
In fact, the Zimbabwean ruling party has never been known for using language
carefully. Both vice presidents are so reckless with their language that it
is advisable for them to keep their mouths shut.

Recently, one of them spoke of “a bloodbath”, and the other, of the
electorate voting for “baboons” if the ruling party chose to field baboons
as election candidates. In fact, there is no worse abuse of language than to
use it to publicly insult the electorate.

It is common knowledge that those who do not want people to comment about
their type of dress, should never walk in public. Critical writers and
journalists help to ventilate the national imagination. I would hate to live
in a country in which everybody agreed on every subject under the sun.

The gods gave us some grey stuff between our ears, and as long as we are
alive, we will use it critically to examine our social and political
condition.

Right now, the country is broke, we all know it. But the ruling party is
concentrating on getting new Mercs for the ministers and the president. It
takes no notice of the poverty engulfing the whole country. I now believe
that African economies do not collapse until there is no more food at State
House. As long as the president eats and has fuel to run his fleet of
vehicles, everything is assumed to be in perfect order.

All those militias dangling guns all over the place should be in a school
where they are taught useful and productive skills for the development of
the nation.

Teaching the skills of how to kill and how to humiliate innocent citizens
will lead to loss of control of the same youngsters. Once they continue to
learn the language of murder and bloodbaths from the leaders it will not be
possible to stop them from killing even the same leaders.

Any leader who goes into the next election with blood on his hands has only
himself to blame if the blood of the people refuses to be shed in silence.

• Chenjerai Hove is a renowned Zimbabwean writer.

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Zim Standard

Mozambique targets Zimbabweans

By our own Staff
BEIRA—Mozambique, a one-time close ally of Zimbabwe, is now targeting
Zimbabweans with at least 120 people being deported every week, The Standard
has established.

The deportations are taking place regardless of whether one has travel
documents or not and are being viewed as a retaliatory measure for similar
actions undertaken by Zimbabwean authorities, particularly in the eastern
border city of Mutare.

The Standard last month witnessed Zimbabweans being harassed by Mozambican
authorities and a number of Zimbabweans spoken to expressed bitterness at
the way they had been treated.

Richard Masuka, a cross-border trader from Bindura, said it was increasingly
becoming difficult for Zimbabweans to conduct business in Mozambique.

Mozambique seems to have joined the ranks of South Africa and Botswana,
countries already well-known for deporting and harassing visitors from
Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabweans are finding it difficult to survive in this region but we try
as much as we can to live decent lives through hard work, but it’s now
difficult. Here in Beira, it’s so easy to lose your wares to the police and
other ruthless officials who just take advantage of the situation to harass
us,” said Masuka.

A woman from Glen View said the clampdown had been triggered by an assault
on two Mozambique police officers by unknown people.

“I don’t know whether the people who assaulted the policemen are
Zimbabweans,” she said.

The Standard understands that the Mozambicans are retaliating against the
harassment of their nationals by the Zimbabwean authorities.

Statistics show that over 17 000 Mozambicans have been deported from
Zimbabwe since April.

The deterioration in the Zimbabwean dollar against all currencies has
exacerbated the situation with Mozambican nationals flooding Mutare—much to
the fury of its residents—in search of basic commodities which have suddenly
become cheap for them. This has resulted in severe food shortages in the
city of Mutare.
Antonio Sumbana, the Mozambican ambassador to Zimbabwe, said the
deportations were a passing phase.

“Relations between Mozambique and Zimbabwe are stronger than ever. If any
virus destroys Zimbabwe, Mozambique will be destroyed as well. Let’s build
business to empower our people and encourage them to have joint ventures so
that links will be there forever,” High Commissioner Sumbana said.
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Zim Standard

MDC challenges attempt to rig poll

By our own Staff
THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is challenging the new voter
registration requirements which it says are another ploy by government to
rig next year’s presidential poll.

MDC secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, told The Standard this week that the
party’s legal department was finalising the court papers required to mount a
challenge to the requirements.

Officers from the registrar general’s office are demanding that potential
voters show proof of residence before they can be accepted as voters. The
move has left in the cold many young voters, who naturally do not have proof
of residence. The MDC has strong support among the youth.

Analysts have taken issue with the new rules saying they were not necessary
in a presidential election in which the whole country was viewed as a single
constituency.

Apart from challenging the requirement on residency, the MDC will also
question the amendments to the Electoral Act which ban foreign and
privately-sponsored monitors. The amendments also bars civic organisations
from conducting voter education campaigns.

“Once the amendments become law, we shall challenge them. But as of now, we
cannot do anything about them as they are not yet law,” said Ncube.

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Zim Standard

Jongwe defaults on govt loan

By our own Staff
THE Zanu PF-owned company, Jongwe Printing and Publishing (Pvt) Ltd, is
failing to pay back to government a loan of $11 108 468 million it accessed
in 1989.

The debt was last serviced in October 1997 and since then, the company has
made no effort to continue repayments.

Efforts to recover the money by the ministry of finance and economic
development have proved fruitless as the loan is considered to be political.

The story first came to light when the chairman of the Parliament Public
Accounts committee, Reuben Marumahoko, made a report to parliament in which
he revealed that it was not just the company which owed large amounts of
money to the government, but also the Tanzanian government which owed a
total of $8 443 306.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Marumahoko said the comptroller and
auditor -general had informed him that the senior secretary for finance had
advised that every effort was being made to enforce the repayment of the
loans, but no success had as yet been achieved.

The Tanzania government, it was learnt, had offered some buildings in Dar es
Salaam in exchange for the money owed.

The 13% charge supposed to have been levied on Jongwe Printing and
Publishing (Pvt) Ltd, for overdue amounts, has apparently not yet been
administered.

The Standard understands that the ministry has handed the case over to the
civil division in the attorney-general’s office in the hope that it will
recover the money on behalf of the government.

The committee said the loans to Jongwe Printers and the Tanzanian government
had not been handled prudently simply because they had a political
connection.

The printing company is responsible for the publication of Zanu PF’s two
main propaganda organs, the weekly People’s Voice and the monthly magazine,
Zimbabwe News.

The financial problems at Jongwe Printing and Publishers (Pvt) Ltd started
five years ago amid allegations that the company owed various creditors more
than $62 million in total and had not been paying taxes since 1993.

Last month, the High Court ordered the company to pay the over $600 000 debt
it owed to Mutare Board and Paper Mills for newsprint and paper products
supplied.

Nathan Shamuyarira, the Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity, is
the board chairman of Jongwe Printing and Publishers (Pvt) Ltd.

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Zim Standard

Call for editors forum

By Kumbirai Mafunda
THE chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), Reyhana
Masters Smith, has called for the formation of an editors forum to diffuse
tension within the country’s polarised media.

Addressing editors at a recent gathering organised by Misa, Smith said there
was increasing polarisation in the local media, a situation she said was not
healthy for people involved in information dissemination.

She told the editors from both the private and public media that editors
needed to meet regularly to diffuse tensions and suspicions which tended to
divide the public and private media.

The meeting, which attracted editors from the Daily News, Sunday Mail,
Ziana, Zimbabwe Mirror, Zimbabwe Independent, The Standard and other
publications, is the first of a series to aimed at bringing editors
together.

The Misa chairperson said that since editors rarely met, her media
organisation had taken it upon itself to organise informal meeting for
editors to iron out their perceived differences.

“As Misa we realise that editors have to get together and talk issues
relevant and topical to them in an informal setting. We are seeking greater
co-operation amongst Zimbabwean editors, especially in the wake of
polarisation in the media,” said Smith.

The Misa initiative is meant to culminate in the formation of an Editors
Forum. This body would be moulded along the same lines as the South African
National Editors Association.

In the early 1980s, there used to be regular meetings of editors, the
director of information, the minister of information and the president, but
this has since been abandoned.

Daily News assistant editor, Bill Saidi, said it was imperative to organise
meetings similar to those of the 1980s.

“If the president holds press conferences with editors and journalists, this
will help iron out their differences since there is a lot of misinformation
in the country,” said Saidi.

He added that the idea of press conferences would help not just the
president and media but the nation at large, as there could be openness on
the part of government and the media.

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Zim Standard

‘I’m coming home,’ says Thomas Mapfumo

By Trevor Muhonde
CHIMURENGA music king, Dr Thomas Mapfumo, has assured his followers that he
will be coming home for Christmas.

Mapfumo yesterday told The Standard from his United States base that
although the current political climate in Zimbabwe was a hostile one, he was
still coming home, dispelling Wednesday’s story by the state-controlled
Herald newspaper that he would not be staging his traditional Christmas
bira.

Said Dr Mapfumo: “Munyika medu munonetsa nenyaya dzepolitics. (Our country
has a lot of political problems.) I have heard a lot from my relatives
living in Zimbabwe but that won’t stop me from coming home.

“Handina mhosva yandakapara saka hapana chandinotya. (I have not committed
any crime so I have nothing to fear.) People out there who think I am afraid
of someone or something, are wrong.”

Mukanya said plans for the launching in Zimbabwe of his album, Chimurenga
Rebel, were at an advanced stage. The album is likely to contain the hard
hitting lyrics that have come to be expected of him.

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Zim Standard

US to discipline Mugabe—Tuesday D-Day for Zanu PF chefs and families

By Tendai Mutseyekwa
THE United States House of Representatives is expected to pass the Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act on Tuesday, paving the way for President
George W Bush to sign it into law later this month, The Standard has
established.

The Bill, among other issues, seeks to impose punitive personal sanctions
against President Mugabe, his cabinet ministers and service chiefs, as well
as their immediate family members, for crimes against humanity. Since
February last year, when Zimbabweans rejected a government-sponsored draft
constitution in a referendum, the country has been in a state of
lawlessness, as security forces and Zanu PF thugs terrorise defenceless
citizens for supporting the opposition.

The Bill’s transition to the full House of Representatives follows Wednesday
’s unanimous endorsement of the Bill by the Subcommittee on Africa, a body
within the House International Relations Committee.

Sources in Washington yesterday told The Standard: “The Bill is certainly
moving closer to the president’s signature. Before that happens, it must go
to a vote by the full House. It appears that the Bill will be voted on
Tuesday, December 4.

“The reason we are rushing the Bill through the House next week (Tuesday) is
that the current rumour is that the House will go into recess next Thursday.

“The real meat of this Bill is the personal sanctions portion. Personal
sanctions are very rare and have been historically reserved for war-criminal
type dictators. This Bill was created to ensure that the average Zimbabwean
man on the street will not be harmed by the sanctions.”

“The House will take up the Bill under ‘suspension of the rules’, a very
common parliamentary procedure used to pass non-controversial Bills. It
should be highlighted that this Bill is so non-controversial that it will
not require a roll call vote, it will not be debated. It simply will be
passed by a routine voice vote. That is significant in showing that Mugabe
has no support and that virtually the entire House of Representatives is so
appalled at events in Zimbabwe, that the passage of the Bill will be easy,”
said the sources.

Once the House has passed the Bill, it will still have to go back to
Senate—whose current session goes into December—for endorsement before it
proceeds to President Bush. The reason for this is that it was slightly
amended by the House International Relations committee making it necessary
for the Senate to vote again on the House version.

“The House committee amendment was for purposes of denying the establishment
of a regional headquarters of the Southern African Development Bank in
Zimbabwe. The amendment was co-sponsored by Rep Barbara Lee
(Democrat-California), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. So even
the CBC was aggressive in its desire to make the Bill less favourable to
Mugabe,” said the sources.

The latest passage of the Bill proves that all efforts by the Zimbabwean
government to derail it have failed. The government hired the influential
former Atlanta governor, Andrew Young, and the obscure Coltrane
Chimurenga-led December 12 Movement, to spearhead a campaign against the
Bill.

The sources have however, acknowledged that the impact of the campaign has
been felt: “The efforts to persuade the CBC, and indeed, the rest of
Congress to go against the Bill has been tremendous. The government of
Zimbabwe has spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of US dollars on
lobbyists to defeat the Bill. Those efforts are in addition to similar
efforts by the Zimbabwean embassy to dissuade lawmakers from the Bill.

“Rep Donald Payne (Democrat-New Jersey), the ranking Democrat on the Africa
subcommittee, was the main leader in bringing the CBC to our side. With
Payne in the lead, most of the CBC followed and supported the Bill. In the
end, Andrew Young and the government lobbyists could not cover up the fact
that the Mugabe government is one of the worst anti-democratic regimes in
Africa.”

Commenting on the Zimbabwe Bill before the House subcommittee on Wednesday,
Payne said: “Zimbabwe is too important to ignore and the legislation offers
a credible policy option to deal with challenges in Zimbabwe. Mr Chairman,
the situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating by the day. Dozens of people have
been killed, the rule of law is non-existent, and authoritarian tendencies
have reached a very dangerous level. I strongly believe that it is in our
interest and the interest of Zimbabwe and Africa, not to allow another
African country to go down the drain.”

Payne added that anarchy in Zimbabwe could threaten the entire sub-region
and set a wrong precedent for the rest of Africa.

“Some people have portrayed this legislation as punitive sanctions
legislation. I must admit they almost succeeded in defining the debate in
such a way as to confuse the real intent of the legislation. The objective
of the Zimbabwe Democracy Act is not to punish the people of Zimbabwe or
Mugabe. Rather, it is to ensure a secure, democratic and prosperous
Zimbabwe.

“Those who object to this legislation hide behind the race card. This is not
about white versus black farmers or racism; it is about fair and transparent
elections; respect for human rights, fair and transparent land reform; and
to provide real help to those who need it most. More blacks have been killed
by Mugabe’s security forces and ruling party thugs than white farmers. Those
who have suffered most under Mugabe are not white farmers, but poor blacks,”
said Payne.

MDC shadow minister for foreign affairs, Tendai Biti, welcomed the
forthcoming passage of the Bill.

“For years, knowledge of Zimbabwe in the US, has been poor. As a party, we
embarked on a serious process to raise awareness on the situation in
Zimbabwe and the appreciation of the demonic Mugabe has been a result of
that process,” Biti told The Standard.

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CNN

Zimbabwe's Mugabe predicts victory
December 1, 2001 Posted: 3:55 PM EST (2055 GMT)

HARARE, Zimbawe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said on
Saturday he was not afraid of his main rival in an election due early next
year and would convincingly win a poll that many expect to be the toughest
of his long career.

Speaking at a tree-planting ceremony at a rural school east of the capital
Harare, Mugabe again scoffed at threats of international sanctions against
his government over controversial seizures of white-owned farms, saying the
programme would continue "with or without sanctions."

His ruling ZANU-PF party was gearing itself for a presidential election due
to be held by April, he said in remarks broadcast by Zimbabwe state
television.

"We are not afraid of elections at all. Elections are our tradition and we
are going to win these elections resoundingly," he said, repeating his
accusation that his main rival, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, is a puppet of former colonial power Britain.

Tsvangirai's MDC nearly defeated Mugabe in parliamentary elections last year
despite a violent campaign the MDC blamed on ZANU-PF, which left at least 31
people dead. The opposition candidate denies he is a puppet and says Mugabe
prefers name-calling to avoid focusing on a severe national crisis.

"The MDC can never win these elections, never ever, never ever," Mugabe
said. "Let the British know that."

Mugabe, 77, has held power since the former British colony of Rhodesia
gained independence from London in 1980. He said his land seizures would
continue because they were meant to benefit Zimbabwe's landless black
majority.

"Sanctions or no sanctions, we will take back our land," he said.

Critics say Mugabe has largely ignored a Nigerian-brokered agreement that
his government signed in September and which was supposed to end violent
farm seizures in favor of a just and fair land reform scheme partly funded
by Britain.

Critics accuse Mugabe's militant ZANU-PF supporters -- led by veterans of
the independence war -- of mounting a campaign of intimidation against
voters ahead of the presidential elections.

Tsvangirai says Mugabe is trying to steal victory in the elections by
changing electoral laws in his favor, including barring millions of
Zimbabweans abroad from voting and demanding multiple proof of residency for
urban voters.

The government -- which says there is no room for local independent monitors
in the coming election -- has so far refused demands from the European Union
to indicate whether international observers will be allowed to witness the
vote.

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Exchange rates

THE following are the rates of exchange used by the Department of Customs
and Excise for converting foreign currency for the valuation of imported
goods. This list is valid from November 27 to December 03 2001.

Country/Currency Z/$ Forex

Australian dollar 29,6829

Austrian schilling 3,7219

Belgian/Lux franc 1,2696

Botswana pula 9,3515

Brazilian real 0,0814

Burundese franc 0,0683

Canadian dollar 36,4536

CFA franc 0,0740

Chinese renminbi yuan 6,8776

Cuban peso 2,5286

Cypriot pound 91,0458

Danish kroner 6,8794

Egyptian pound 13,3941

Ethiopian birr 6,7639

Euro 59,3472

European currency 59,3906

Finnish markka 8,7929

French franc 7,6786

German mark 25,7465

Ghanaian cedi 0,0079

Greek drachma 0,1503

Hong Kong dollar 7,4231

Indian rupee 1,2071

Irish punt 65,0150

Israeli shekel 13,0892

Italian lira 0,0260

Japanese yen 0,4664

Kenyan shilling 0,8260

Lesotho maluti 6,1482

Malawian kwacha 0,9570

Malaysian ringgit 14,9822

Mauritian rupee 1,9564

Mozambican metical 0,0027

Namibian dollar 6,0286

Netherlands guilder 23,2400

New Zealand dollar 24,2078

Nigerian naira 0,5080

North Korean won 25,8750

Norwegian kroner 6,4773

Pakistani rupee 0,9507

Portuguese escudo 0,2554

PTA UAPTA 58,7345

Russian rouble 1,9346

Rwandan franc 0,1300

Saudi riyal 15,1772

Singapore dollar 32,2850

South African rand 6,0286

South Korean won 0,0436

Spanish peseta 0,3078

Swazi lilongeni 6,1482

Swedish kroner 5,4909

Swiss franc 34,4062

Taiwanese dollar 1,6519

Tanzanian shilling 0,0650

Thai baht 1,2835

UAE dirham 14,5710

Ugandan shilling 0,0333

UK pound 81,6747

US dollar 56,9250

Zambian Kwacha 0,0155




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The Herald - the state controlled newspaper ......

UK envoy, Moyo clash

Diplomatic Reporter
THE British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Mr Brian Donnelly yesterday
clashed with the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor
Jonathan Moyo over the issues of land reform, Press freedom and rule of law.

Sources who attended the four-hour meeting said Mr Donnelly was roasted over
Britain’s sponsorship of the opposition and its campaign to demonise
Zimbabwe by mobilising the international and regional community for an
onslaught against the ruling Zanu-PF Government.

The sources said the meeting — which was meant to be a courtesy call on
Professor Moyo — became explosive as the two failed to agree on a number of
fundamental issues.

The meeting comes on the heels of stepped up pressure by Britain to mobilise
the European Union, Commonwealth and some Sadc countries against the
Zimbabwe Government.

Mr Donnelly confirmed that his country sponsored the Movement for Democratic
Change in the run-up to last year’s parliamentary elections but has since
stopped doing so following the banning of foreign sponsorship for local
political parties.

However, Prof Moyo is understood to have charged that the British government
was still channelling funds to the MDC through the Standard Chartered Bank
using the Amani Trust and the money was being transferred via Malaysia.

Mr Donnelly is reported to have denied this. It was however, pointed out to
him that his government had initially denied funding the MDC through the
Westminster Foundation but later admitted it as it was displayed on the
foundation’s website.

Contrary to reports by British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw that the
situation in Zimbabwe was deteriorating rapidly, Mr Donnelly reportedly
noted that Zimbabweans were hospitable people.

He further said many Zimbabweans were working in Britain but was shocked by
reports in The Herald, which portrayed relations between Harare and London
as hostile.

Prof Moyo, however, noted that there were some problems between the two
countries.

He said a small but very vocal so-called civil society was eager to go to
Britain while the majority of Zimbabweans in the rural areas had no
intention to leave the country but wanted land or would rather visit Sadc
countries.

The sources said the minister said most people found it difficult that
Harare disagreed with its former colonial power.

"He said the fact that the High Commissioner got baffled daily by The Herald
also applied to him each time he read the Daily News," the sources said.

The minister questioned why Britain was funding the MDC.

"History will leave us wiser in the fullness of time but when you get a
situation of a country which colonised a certain country, now agitating
people to rise for democracy only 21 years later is quite baffling," the
sources quoted the minister saying.

They said the minister said 21 years of independence was a very short period
and Zimbabweans still remembered how they were brutally dispossessed of
their land.

Prof Moyo told Mr Donnelly that the people backing the MDC were the same
people who displaced locals and were re-emerging in a different form.

He said those who fought in the liberation struggle doubted Britain’s
sincerity when it spoke of democracy when the people of Zimbabwe fought the
former colonial power to gain independence.

They were also aware that Britain supported Ian Smith’s Unilateral
Declaration of Independence (UDI).

Prof Moyo questioned Britain’s audacity to preach democracy and fund an
opposition party noting that this prompted the conclusion that London wanted
to recolonise Harare.

The sources said Mr Donnelly said Britain never supported Smith.

But Prof Moyo insisted that it was a well-documented historical fact.

Mr Donnelly said 21 years was indeed a short period and people should not
always be taken back to the past in attempting to address their problems.

Prof Moyo, the sources said, interjected saying: "If you want to dehumanise
a people, tell them that their past does not matter. We would not accept an
argument that says Zimbabwe is presenting a 20 year old argument because
such an argument attempts to make us appear like a people without any
history or identity."

The sources said the Secretary for Information, Mr George Charamba
intervened and pointed out that Britain herself attached importance to her past as evidenced by the
empire ethos.

He asked why, if Britain opposed UDI, did it not support Zanu-PF or any
other liberation movement, a question the sources said Mr Donnelly was not
keen to answer.

Prof Moyo explained that land reform was a correction of historical
injustices and not about UDI since land was taken by Britain as a colonial
power.

"By correcting the land imbalance we are not stuck in the past, we are
addressing a current problem which was caused by British colonial injustice.
We are not getting out of it through British charity or by playing the game
according to British rules," the sources quoted him saying.

Prof Moyo said London was trying to internationalise the matter and was also
mobilising South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique against Harare.

He told Mr Donnelly that he was exaggerating the situation in Zimbabwe.

This suggested that Britain’s standards for democracy in Zimbabwe were
inconsistent and that no one should die or be arrested while President
Mugabe is in power as such incidents constituted lawlessness.

Mr Charamba asked whether Britain allowed foreign funding of political
parties but the diplomat said the question was an old tired one though
London did not allow such a scenario.

Prof Moyo said he hoped Britain did not think that the Government would let
it set such a dangerous example.

Mr Donnelly asked if that was what democracy was about, how did the
opposition win the popular vote in last year’s general elections.

Prof Moyo responded: "I am surprised that after six months in the country
you are peddling an ordinary lie. Unless you ran the election yourself and
pushed through the propaganda to the Zimbabwe Independent, which made this
claim, so much that you are beginning to believe in your propaganda planted
in the Independent. We have the pleasure of sending you a correct version of
the full election result if you want."

He told the diplomat that Britain was Zimbabwe’s political rival and would
not tell him how Zanu-PF won the election.

Prof Moyo said Britain was waiting for any pretext to remove the Government.

He also said the British media distorted the death of Cde Cain Nkala and
would face the wrath of the law if it continued like that.

Mr Donnelly then asked the minister if he believed that Britain was
supporting terrorism.

"Yes by supporting the MDC and the abduction of Cain Nkala to the extent of
wanting to cover up that abduction," the sources quoted the minister
replying.

Mr Donnelly, however, said his government did not regard the MDC as
terrorist.

Prof Moyo asked: "What about Zanu-PF. You have labelled Zanu-PF as a pack of
thugs and as violent. You have labelled my President as Hitler and me as
Goebbels?"

He pointed out that the Government would not let Harare fall if it could not
let Kinshasa fall.

The sources said the diplomat then said "your media totally fabricated the
fact that I was involved in the looting in Chinhoyi".

He added that if Harare believed that Britain was supporting terrorism it
was a major accusation by any standard.

Interviewed after his meeting with Prof. Moyo, Mr Donnelly confirmed that
the two differed on most issues "but we were frank and open in expressing
our different views."


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Fury as Zimbabweans sent to 'certain death'

Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday December 2, 2001
The Observer

Two members of Zimbabwe's beleaguered opposition who fled the country after
being beaten and tortured by supporters of President Robert Mugabe face
deportation from Britain this week after their asylum claims were refused.
The decision by Home Secretary David Blunkett has provoked an outcry among
human rights and dissident groups in the UK as the men face almost certain
death on their return. Both are members of the Movement for Democratic
Change, the main party of opposition in Zimbabwe, which has been dubbed a
'terrorist' organisation by Mugabe.

The Observer has also discovered that 150 Zimbabwean asylum-seekers were
turned back from Heathrow airport last month and sent straight home to an
uncertain fate.

Hilton Matiza (21), an MDC member from Harare, the capital, has been told he
will be removed from the country tomorrow and sedated with a sleeping drug
if necessary to get him on the plane. In Zimababwe, he says, he was set upon
twice by Mugabe's Zanu-PF gangs and imprisoned without charge by the
authorities after it was discovered he was an opposition supporter.

He was further beaten in jail and told he would be killed if he continued
his activities. He arrived in Britain in January and since then, the
authorities have tried to remove him five times. On each occasion he has
avoided deportation by standing on his seat. If the sedation fails tomorrow
he will be handcuffed and taken under physical constraint to South Africa
before crossing the border.

A second man, a 22-year-old MDC member from Harare, was due to be deported
from today, but his removal has been deferred to later in the week after the
intervention of Labour MP John McDonnell, whose constituency covers the
detention centre near Heathrow where the men are being held.

The man, who does not wish to be identified because his family in Harare has
been threatened, says he was attacked in his bed by members of the Zanu-PF
youth organisation and, like Hilton Matiza, told he would be killed. He
arrived in Britain in June with his MDC card and a letter from his MP,
Willias Madzimure, asking for him to be granted asylum. The man also
believes he will be persecuted because he is gay - Robert Mugabe is
violently homophobic.

The MDC has a general policy of not supporting asylum applications because
they have been accused by the Mugabe regime of encouraging people to leave
the country. But in certain extreme cases they will confirm membership of
the MDC. This weekend MDC General Secretary Welshman Nkube begins a visit to
Britain to publicise the situation in Zimbabwe, where elections are due to
be held next year. It is believed Nkube will also raise the cases of the MDC
members facing deportation from Britain.

British MDC spokesman James Littleton said: 'The Movement for Democratic
Change is understandably nervous about asylum issues because there is a
belief that people should stay in Zimbabwe and oppose the Mugabe regime from
there. But there is no doubt that people are being attacked simply for being
members of the MDC.'
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 2 December

SADC to pile on pressure as patience wears thin with Mugabe

President Thabo Mbeki is leading a charge by Southern African leaders to pile pressure on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on the eve of the Zanu PF congress at which he is expected to seek nomination for another term in power. In a dramatic shift in approach this week, Mbeki: Abandoned his kid-gloves approach to Mugabe and criticised him publicly three times; Phoned Malawi's President Bakili Muluzi and asked him to convene a meeting of the Southern African Development Community's special task team on Zimbabwe; and Briefed the ANC's National Executive Committee on the government's tougher stance on the Zimbabwean crisis. Government officials told the Sunday Times that the deterioration in Zimbabwe's political situation in recent weeks had "triggered" Mbeki to speak out more frankly against Mugabe. He was receiving reports that hundreds of refugees were streaming across the border every day. Mbeki was also feeling under pressure as Western leaders were regularly phoning him whenever they wanted to "get a message through to Mugabe". "He wants Mugabe to know that he should not expect protection any more. Up to now we have rallied behind him," said a senior official. Another official said Mbeki's patience was "wearing thin" because the Zimbabwean crisis would not let the New Partnership for Africa's Development get off the ground.

Presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said Mbeki was "really keen to ensure free and fair elections" in Zimbabwe. "If the elections are not legitimate, the situation will be far worse than it is now. The President therefore wants to double the efforts to seek a resolution to the crisis," said Khumalo. Mbeki's call to Muluzi was made before his three public statements warning of a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe unless other countries made "urgent" interventions. Political leaders from around the region have been urging Zanu PF to use its congress in two weeks to find a successor to Mugabe. It is believed that Mbeki asked that the regional heads of the task team meet again in Harare to read the riot act to Mugabe. The SADC task team, comprising the leaders of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi, was mandated at the regional summit in Blantyre earlier this year to help Zimbabwe out of its turmoil. However, state-sponsored land invasions and violence have continued. This week, Mugabe's government passed a law that will effectively ban foreign journalists. It is planning laws to silence the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. This week a defiant Mugabe also unveiled the first batch of 1 000 youthful soldiers who have been given the task of reversing "the effects of colonial legacy".

Mbeki, speaking at a meeting of the World Association of Newspapers on Tuesday, said that the SADC had to intervene urgently to halt the disorder in Zimbabwe before it spilt over into other countries in the region. He also condemned the harassment of journalists and absence of press freedom in Zimbabwe. At another meeting that evening, Mbeki said misguided economic policies over the past two decades were responsible for the upheaval. When quizzed by the Foreign Correspondents' Association on Thursday, Mbeki expressed his frustration that efforts by the SADC and Commonwealth committees had not produced results. The youth brigade unveiled by Mugabe this week completed a three-month course at a former army barracks north of Harare. "We realised that we have beaten the snake [whites], but left out the head. What is left is to finish off the head," Mugabe told the youths. He said national youth service would be mandatory for anyone applying for work in the government or entering university.

From The Sunday Independent (SA), 2 December

Mugabe digs in against critics for 2002 poll

Harare - A violent resolution to Zimbabwe's crisis drew closer this week as President Robert Mugabe continued to reject all efforts to ensure a free and fair presidential election next year. Mugabe once again defied international insistence that he stick to the promise he made in Abuja, Nigeria, in September to conduct land reform under the rule of law and to allow freedom of the press. Since then he has introduced legislation to allow the seizure of white farms to bypass the courts, and to control the independent press through compulsory registration. Mugabe and his lieutenants are increasingly referring to the land resettlement programme as the "third revolution" that will finally realise the goals of the country's liberation struggle by returning all land to blacks. This suggests he will not be amenable to anything that might frustrate this objective - including his victory in the election, which is scheduled for March. This week, as further evidence that Mugabe is preparing for the Armageddon option, plans to construct bunkers under State House were revealed.

Many observers are pinning their hopes on a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mission that is currently reviewing Zimbabwe's land reform policies. The mission is trying to establish a just and sustainable land reform process that both the Zimbabwean government and international donors can subscribe to. But analysts and stakeholders said this week that the UNDP team was unlikely to resolve the land crisis as long as Mugabe remained focused on winning the presidential election at all costs. "European Union and Commonwealth delegations recently left Zimbabwe empty-handed," said Lovemore Madhuku, a political analyst. "What magic will this UNDP mission use to force Mugabe into co-operating with the international community and into implementing a just and acceptable land reform exercise?"

Meanwhile, President Thabo Mbeki criticised Mugabe's policies at three separate venues this week. Speaking to an influential group of businesspeople in Sandton on Tuesday night, Mbeki mentioned Zimbabwe by name and was highly critical of the economic policies of the Mugabe government, describing them as "unsustainable". And in off-the-cuff remarks at the gala banquet of the World Association of Newspapers, Mbeki criticised the Zimbabwean government's crackdown on the media, saying that it was "unacceptable". He told 50 of the world's top newspaper publishers that he had asked for a meeting of the Southern African Development Community task group on Zimbabwe to deal with the deteriorating situation in that country.

Addressing foreign correspondents on Thursday, Mbeki called for urgent action to be taken to ensure that the presidential election in Zimbabwe was free and fair. He warned that the crisis in Zimbabwe would deteriorate further unless countries in the region and the Commonwealth intervened. "All of us must act urgently to persuade the government and the population of Zimbabwe to move in a certain direction. It is critical that elections should be free and fair." He also said that a joint committee consisting of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change should be set up to ensure mutual satisfaction with the result of the poll.

From The Zimbabwe Standard, 2 December

Tuesday D-Day for Zanu PF chefs and families

The United States House of Representatives is expected to pass the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act on Tuesday, paving the way for President George W Bush to sign it into law later this month, The Standard has established. The Bill, among other issues, seeks to impose punitive personal sanctions against President Mugabe, his cabinet ministers and service chiefs, as well as their immediate family members, for crimes against humanity. Since February last year, when Zimbabweans rejected a government-sponsored draft constitution in a referendum, the country has been in a state of lawlessness, as security forces and Zanu PF thugs terrorise defenceless citizens for supporting the opposition. The Bill’s transition to the full House of Representatives follows Wednesday’s unanimous endorsement of the Bill by the Subcommittee on Africa, a body within the House International Relations Committee. Sources in Washington yesterday told The Standard: "The Bill is certainly moving closer to the president’s signature. Before that happens, it must go to a vote by the full House. It appears that the Bill will be voted on Tuesday, December 4. The reason we are rushing the Bill through the House next week (Tuesday) is that the current rumour is that the House will go into recess next Thursday."

"The real meat of this Bill is the personal sanctions portion. Personal sanctions are very rare and have been historically reserved for war-criminal type dictators. This Bill was created to ensure that the average Zimbabwean man on the street will not be harmed by the sanctions. The House will take up the Bill under "suspension of the rules", a very common parliamentary procedure used to pass non-controversial Bills. It should be highlighted that this Bill is so non-controversial that it will not require a roll call vote, it will not be debated. It simply will be passed by a routine voice vote. That is significant in showing that Mugabe has no support and that virtually the entire House of Representatives is so appalled at events in Zimbabwe, that the passage of the Bill will be easy," said the sources. Once the House has passed the Bill, it will still have to go back to the Senate - whose current session goes into December – for endorsement before it proceeds to President Bush. The reason for this is that it was slightly amended by the House International Relations committee making it necessary for the Senate to vote again on the House version. "The House committee amendment was for purposes of denying the establishment of a regional headquarters of the Southern African Development Bank in Zimbabwe. The amendment was co-sponsored by Rep Barbara Lee (Democrat-California), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. So even the CBC was aggressive in its desire to make the Bill less favourable to Mugabe," said the sources.

The latest passage of the Bill proves that all efforts by the Zimbabwean government to derail it have failed. The government hired the influential former Atlanta governor, Andrew Young, and the obscure Coltrane Chimurenga-led December 12 Movement, to spearhead a campaign against the Bill. The sources have however, acknowledged that the impact of the campaign has been felt: "The efforts to persuade the CBC, and indeed, the rest of Congress to go against the Bill has been tremendous. The government of Zimbabwe has spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of US dollars on lobbyists to defeat the Bill. Those efforts are in addition to similar efforts by the Zimbabwean embassy to dissuade lawmakers from the Bill." "Rep Donald Payne (Democrat-New Jersey), the ranking Democrat on the Africa subcommittee, was the main leader in bringing the CBC to our side. With Payne in the lead, most of the CBC followed and supported the Bill. In the end, Andrew Young and the government lobbyists could not cover up the fact that the Mugabe government is one of the worst anti-democratic regimes in Africa."

Commenting on the Zimbabwe Bill before the House subcommittee on Wednesday, Payne said: "Zimbabwe is too important to ignore and the legislation offers a credible policy option to deal with challenges in Zimbabwe. Mr Chairman, the situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating by the day. Dozens of people have been killed, the rule of law is non-existent, and authoritarian tendencies have reached a very dangerous level. I strongly believe that it is in our interest and the interest of Zimbabwe and Africa, not to allow another African country to go down the drain." Payne added that anarchy in Zimbabwe could threaten the entire sub-region and set a wrong precedent for the rest of Africa. "Some people have portrayed this legislation as punitive sanctions legislation. I must admit they almost succeeded in defining the debate in such a way as to confuse the real intent of the legislation. The objective of the Zimbabwe Democracy Act is not to punish the people of Zimbabwe or Mugabe. Rather, it is to ensure a secure, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe." "Those who object to this legislation hide behind the race card. This is not about white versus black farmers or racism; it is about fair and transparent elections; respect for human rights, fair and transparent land reform; and to provide real help to those who need it most. More blacks have been killed by Mugabe’s security forces and ruling party thugs than white farmers. Those who have suffered most under Mugabe are not white farmers, but poor blacks," said Payne. MDC shadow minister for foreign affairs, Tendai Biti, welcomed the forthcoming passage of the Bill. "For years, knowledge of Zimbabwe in the US, has been poor. As a party, we embarked on a serious process to raise awareness on the situation in Zimbabwe and the appreciation of the demonic Mugabe has been a result of that process," Biti told The Standard.

From ZWNEWS: An article entitled 'Zimbabwe press vows to fight Mugabe' in yesterday's ZWNEWS was incorrectly sourced to the New York Times. The correct source is Associated Press.

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