Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's secret police
detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday night at Harare
International Airport, searched his bags and accused him of travelling on a
false passport, said officials with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). Party spokesperson Learnmore Jongwe said Tsvangirai was met by state
agents after he landed on a flight from Johannesburg. The agents claimed he had
left Zimbabwe without a passport and had returned with a false document. "He
showed them his passport, and then they searched him," Jongwe said. He was held
for about 20 minutes and allowed to return home, the spokesperson said, adding,
"This is routine harassment</A>". Tsvangirai had been in South Africa on
"party business", he said. Tsvangirai, who is challenging Mugabe in presidential
elections on March 9-10, is frequently targeted by state agents. Last month,
state power utility officials arrived at his Harare home at midnight and tried
to switch off his electricity on the false allegation that his account was
overdue. It later emerged they had been sent by the head of the utility, a
relative of Mugabe's, as a reprisal for Tsvangirai's urging of South Africa to
cut off power supplies to Zimbabwe. In December, police raided and searched his
home at midnight, seizing a mobile radio that belonged to a security guard.
Tsvangirai was charged with failing to produce a licence for the radio. He has
not been prosecuted.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA),
12 February
A tale of two rallies: Peta
Thornycroft, on the campaign trail, catches a glimpse of what Zimbabwe might
become
The choice in Zimbabwe’s presidential election is between more
of the same - the old African order still wedded to the Cold War and last
century’s hero, Kwame Nkrumah - or Africa’s first modern state. Among the green
hills of Zimbabwe’s eastern border town of Mutare last Sunday there was a
glimpse of what Zimbabwe might be. For a start, the 12 000 people at the stadium
in Sakubva township for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally were
attending of their own free will. Outside the stadium, street trade continued.
No one felt pressured to stop selling their wares and listen to the MDC
candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai. There were hardly any schoolchildren or people
below voting age at the rally; no displays of marching youths as part of the
pre-speech entertainment; and none of the women wore wraps bearing Tsvangirai’s
image. There was no mud slinging. Not even against Tsvangirai’s opponent,
President Robert Mugabe - seen as a relic of a bygone age who cost them their
jobs and a middle-class life. Nor were there songs against the British, or
imperialism - whatever that may mean in the minds of the peasants from whom
Mugabe gets most of his support. Instead, the bulk of the town’s working or
would-be working class sang about jobs and change.
Six policemen entered the stadium with a two-man crew from the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. They were perhaps nervous about entering what
they saw as enemy territory, but they needn’t have worried. The MDC crowd was
relaxed. There were no militias or police support units, and no members of the
Zimbabwe National Army with cocked pistols. Whites - there were less than 10 in
the crowd, including journalists - were part of the scene, unnoticed. Red-faced
farmer and MDC MP Roy Bennett, who looks and sounds like a rugby player, was
only slightly less popular than Tsvangirai. The liberation struggle was
acknowledged by the crowd - most of whom were aged between 10 and 15 when it
ended in 1979. They acknowledge it as an important part of their history. But
that is what it is: history.
The MDC has proved what so many analysts had declared
impossible. The party has overcome the tribalism and regionalism that has warped
much of Zimbabwe’s development, or lack of it, over the past 22 years.
Tsvangirai is Shona, yet he is a hero among nearly all in Matabeleland province.
He and the MDC rejected the manoeuvring for power of regional Shona groups,
which has marked internal Zanu PF politics for decades. Tsvangirai is not
anti-white or pro-white. The few thousand whites left in Zimbabwe are part of
the scene, and they provide bakkies and petrol, the food and safe houses for the
unknown number who have fled their homes in rural areas. Tsvangirai said the MDC
would have an audit to find out what has happened in the chaotic land grab of
the past two years, which has displaced more people than it has settled. He said
troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be withdrawn, but that it would
take time, considering the delicate peace process there. He said that neither
the army nor the police would be purged, but that Zimbabwe urgently needed a new
constitution.
Two days earlier at Mutawatawa, a village 160km north east of
Harare, the atmosphere and the message was of a previous era. Colonialism had
little impact here. It was never settled by whites and remains much as it was at
the end of Rhodesia: a few dilapidated shops, a school, a clinic without drugs
and masses of subsistence farmers. In 30 years the people have only heard one
political message - firstly from the Zanla fighters, and then from Zanu PF. No
opposition politician has ever ventured here. Mugabe’s message is the only one
the people know. All the settlements within a 40km radius of the village were
empty, everyone had gone to the Zanu PF rally. It was impossible to judge
whether they had been forced or not.
It was an event for the people. Zimbabwe Airforce helicopters
swept the skies, and Mugabe’s own craft took him to a clearing far from the
crowd. There was pre-rally entertainment, a moving poem about land, a funny skit
on white farmers, some awful dancing and endless hours of young men marching. A
riot policeman armed with an AK-47 glared down at the children in the front, to
the side an army sharpshooter cocked his pistol. The newly recruited militia in
their greens and the police support unit in their blues patrolled the area.
Marshalls conducted the singing - with songs about the liberation struggle,
about Rhodesia and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Scores of civil servants,
including officials from the Department of Information, were wearing Zanu-PF T-
shirts. The air rang with the cries of imperialism and the perception of
millions of former Rhodesians in Perth and beyond, packing to come home to
recolonise Zimbabwe.
Mugabe repeated his mantras of the past two years. Blair and
whites were responsible for the lack of development in the area, he said. He
wagged his finger and warned that a vote for Tsvangirai meant a reborn Rhodesia.
His wife Grace sat glumly behind, and the man in charge of the militias, Youth
Minister Elliot Manyika, was dressed for the occasion in off-the-peg military
fatigues. Zanu PF national chairperson John Nkomo was there, his pleasant,
familiar face belying what he had been telling Parliament the week before, that
the new Public Order and Security Act was a piece of legislation necessary in
all democracies. The crowd was well-behaved, tolerant of four whites among the
press, and dutiful. They repeatedly sang a haunting refrain about voting, and
used their arms to show how to make a cross. The rally in Mutawatawa reflected
the past, and if it wasn’t so menacing because so many are dying, injured or
displaced by Mugabe’s various militias, it could have been written off as the
most boring event since the last Zanu-PF rally.
The last thing I expected in my fight for press freedom in
Zimbabwe was to trigger a media meltdown in London that would hand ammunition to
the Harare government for its persecution of independent journalists. Page one
of yesterday's Times made the astonishing assertion that I had admitted to its
journalist fabricating a report in The Independent about my arrest and
incarceration in Harare Central police station last week. Later editions of The
Times dropped the claim that I had admitted lying and settled instead for
"exaggeration". The interview I gave its journalist supports neither allegation.
But by yesterday morning Zimbabwe was alive with reports that I had admitted
lying to the once-venerable Times. This is simply not true.
The facts are straightforward. After my house was ransacked by
the police while I was away in Johannesburg, I turned myself in at Harare
Central police station last week with my lawyer. I was put under arrest at 4pm
on Monday 4 February. I was dumped in a filthy room near a blocked toilet, which
emitted a foul and suffocating stench. I had a few broken planks to rest on. The
psychological stress I was under inflamed the severe stomach ulcers from which I
have been suffering and at about 11pm, after lengthy discussion, I persuaded the
detectives assigned to my case to take me home so I could fetch my ulcer
medication. I did not know how long I would be in Mr Mugabe's hands and so I
agreed to the request of the officers not to disclose that they accompanied me
home. I felt I had to protect the detectives who had shown me kindness despite
instructions to ill treat me. Now the media frenzy has brought this into the
open, to my deep regret. I was back at the police station at 3am and was not
ordered released until 11am. Thus my detention at the police station lasted
about 15 hours.
I do not need either to exaggerate or fabricate anything about
the sorry state of affairs in Zimbabwe, about the difficult circumstances within
which the press in my country is operating, or indeed about my own situation. I
have always been aware that the fight for press freedom in Zimbabwe would earn
me many detractors and enemies, particularly in the Zimbabwean government. I
never expected to be maligned and undermined by my professional colleagues -
particularly those in the British press, who have shown such a keen interest in
the protection of human rights in Zimbabwe. What motivated The Times to say I
admitted lying is beyond me. At least I have a witness. My foreign editor,
Leonard Doyle, who listened to my telephone interview with the Times reporter,
knows I never made this extraordinary admission. Throughout the interview with
The Times and other journalists, I responded to their specific queries about my
ordeal so they could better comprehend my situation. They for instance wanted me
to explain whether I had indeed been detained in a cell or in an office. My
answer was detailed and factual: I used the term cell because that is what the
police called the stinking room they put me in and as someone who has been in a
cell before there was no other conclusion I could come to.
I also explained why I had omitted from my Independent article
information concerning my temporary release from police custody near midnight on
Monday and my re-detention four hours later. I had promised the detectives I
would remain silent on this issue, and now I hoped journalists in London would
understand the reason for the omission. I ask myself what could have motivated
colleagues at the Zimbabwe chapter of the respected Media Institute of Southern
Africa (Misa) to set the hare running by issuing a statement on Friday about my
arrest without at least checking the facts with me. After meeting the senior
officers of Misa on Monday, the organisation issued a statement correcting a
fundamental error in its previous statement, which said I was only detained for
five hours, until 7pm, on Monday. I expected this correction to get the
prominence it deserved in all the newspapers that had shown interest in the
story in Britain and Zimbabwe. Disappointingly this was not to be.
For the record, I suffered much humiliation at the hands of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). Their act of ransacking and searching my house
days before arresting me was uncalled for. Their harassment of whomever they
found at my house while I was still abroad was uncalled for. I am not a
criminal. I have no criminal record. I don't even have a traffic offence in any
record against me. My incarceration at the Harare Central police station was
uncalled for. There is no need for me to exaggerate anything about my treatment
there. People are dying in Zimbabwe, others are being injured daily because of
the political problems bedevilling the country. I will not allow scurillous
reporting to break my spirits.
Wednesday, 13 February, 2002, 08:24 GMT
Zimbabwe poll monitors row grows
Abubakar says he is there to ensure electoral freedom
The head of the Commonwealth observer mission for Zimbabwe's
presidential election has said that it is there to assist Zimbabwe, not to tell
it what to do.
Abubakar: "Certainly not" a tool of European
nations
|
The former Nigerian president, General Abdusalami
Abubakar, who is leading the mission, told the BBC that he could "see no
problem" with the mission's role of observing and reporting on the electoral
process in the March poll.
His comments come as the European Union considers the imposition of sanctions
on Zimbabwe in a diplomatic row over the role of European election monitors.
Twenty European election monitors arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, bringing
the total now in Harare to 30.
General Abubakar said he was "certainly not" acting as a tool of white
Commonwealth countries in the election, in which President Robert Mugabe is
expected to face his toughest challenge in 22 years of power.
"We are there to observe and make sure that Zimbabweans are given the freedom
to elect who they want," he said.
Access row
International pressure on Zimbabwe to allow monitors has grown as human
rights groups have warned of a "climate of fear and terror" in the run-up to the
elections.
The European Commission is trying to clarify whether the Zimbabwean
Government has refused to accredit Pierre Schori, the head of its delegation of
election observers.
|
Banned EU countries |
Sweden
Britain
Germany
The Netherlands
Denmark
Finland |
On Monday the Zimbabwean foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, said that there was
no invitation to the EU as an organisation.
Nine European countries had been invited only in an individual capacity, he
said.
Sanctions
A spokeswoman in Brussels said the commission hoped to learn on Wednesday
whether this was official policy.
Another EU official said the EU member states would then decide whether or
not to impose sanctions.
Mr Schori is already in
Zimbabwe
|
If implemented, the sanctions would include a travel ban
on Mr Mugabe, his family and close associates, a freeze on any assets they might
hold in EU member states, and a suspension of long-tem development aid.
The EU members have also said they will impose those sanctions if they
believe that the voting has not been free and fair, or if media coverage of it
is restricted.
Petrol bombing
As the diplomatic stand-off continued, Zimbabwe's main state-controlled daily
newspaper accused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change of carrying out
two petrol bomb attacks on Monday.
The Herald said the opposition had "everything to gain" from the attacks on
an independent newspaper and a printing house producing opposition campaign
materials.
"It will give credence to charges that the presidential poll was not free and
fair," the paper said.
Daily News
I’m back at work, says Chinotimba
2/13/02 7:29:18 AM
(GMT +2)
Municipal Reporter
JOSEPH Chinotimba, the
controversial war veterans’ leader, denied at the
weekend he absconded from
work at the Harare City Council to concentrate on
Zanu PF campaign rallies
and other business unrelated to his municipal post.
Chinotimba was
responding to a story published by this paper last week,
alleging he was
playing truant from work as a driver at Town House,
concentrating instead on
Zanu PF’s presidential campaign and resolving
labour issues.
“I am
back with the municipal police and sometimes I go on patrol. If I do
party
business when I am off duty or in my spare time, that has nothing to
do with
you,” Chinotimba said testily.
“I do not report to you and my employer
should complain before you peddle
lies and malice. Why do you report that I
have an office at Town House as if
you want me to work from a
toilet?”
The story alleged that Chinotimba was not carrying out his
duties at Town
House, focusing instead on party business while still on the
council
payroll.
The war veterans’ leader is the Zanu PF secretary for
the commissariat of
the Harare province. He said he attended to his other
responsibilities in
his spare time.
Daily News - Feature
Bishops condemn political violence
2/13/02
7:12:43 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
VIOLENCE is causing
considerable destruction, loss of life and property and
untold suffering
among the people, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference
said at the
weekend.
In their latest pastoral letter, all the nine Catholic bishops
called on the
police to act decisively to bring the perpetrators of political
violence to
book.
They called for an end to bussing people into areas
to commit acts of
violence.
The bishops said: “Many people admire the
manner in which the country moved
from the horrors of colonialism into a new
political dispensation which
upheld the rights of citizens and the policy of
reconciliation which helped
our country in establishing an era of national
development and peace.
“However, 21 years after independence, we have
become disturbed by
increasing cases of political violence and intolerance
among our people,
especially when it comes to party affiliations and election
campaigns.
“This violence has caused much destruction, loss of life and
property and
untold suffering among our people. In our last pastoral letter
we made a
fervent appeal for tolerance.
“Unfortunately in some areas
the degree of intolerance has increased.”
While they appreciated appeals for
an end to political violence because this
is a serious violation of freedom
which strikes at the heart of human
dignity the bishops called on the
government and party leaders to allow law
enforcement agents to perform their
duties without interference.
They said: “In the same way, we appeal to
law enforcement agents and
security forces to be more accountable to the
people by maintaining order,
peace and security, shunning any form of
violence, intimidation or bias. We
call upon them to bring the perpetrators
of political violence to book.”
Inflammatory and intimidatory statements
and shouting slogans against fellow
Zimbabweans and other parties engender
feelings of hatred and incite people
to violence, they said.
“We ask
the leaders of different political parties to ensure that they and
their
followers refrain from such verbal violence, which often results in
physical
violence and is in contradiction with moral and Christian
principles,” the
bishops said.
“We also ask for an immediate halt to the system of
ferrying people from one
place to another to commit acts of violence. These
things compromise our
hope for free and fair elections,” the bishops
said.
They criticised some sections of the media for reporting in a
“biased and
unbalanced manner”, saying they could curb violence by reporting
events
objectively.
The bishops appealed to the youths to resist being
used to commit violence
against their will by leaders bent on using violence
to achieve political
ends.
“While we should accommodate differences of
opinion, these should be dealt
with in the context of dialogue, tolerance and
respect for each other.
“We ought to be on our guard against forces and
tendencies that divide us .
. . such forces often work for their own selfish
advantages,” the bishops
said.
While the bishops were calling for
tolerance, three members of the MDC were
killed, allegedly by Zanu PF
members, while three others in Zhombe in the
Midlands, were kidnapped and
tortured.
Those killed last week were identified as Henry Moyo, an MDC
youth
vice-chairman in Masvingo, Shepherd Ngundu, a teacher at Sohwe
Primary
School in Mount Darwin, and Khape Khumalo from Mhondoro.
Zanu
PF said Tariro Nyanzira, a party member, was found dead on Friday.
It has
blamed his death on the MDC.
Daily News - Leader Page
Colonial mission schools are root of
intolerance
2/13/02 7:37:24 AM (GMT +2)
By Magari
Mandebvu
IT MUST have been in 1974 or earlier that I first met Beata. She
was already
old and her clever son, of whom she was very proud, was in jail
for “his
politics”.
In 1980 her son joined the government. Mbuya Beata
enjoyed visiting his big
house in town with guards at the gate, but she never
could understand why he
didn’t want to be headmaster of their local mission
boarding school.
I reckon that if he had become headmaster, his
authoritarian manner would
soon have landed him in a crisis very similar to
what the whole country is
suffering now.
Perhaps he’d have lasted
longer as head of the local day school. Perhaps
Mbuya Beata overestimated her
boy.
Many mothers do (I think mine did, may she rest in peace). But
perhaps she
was right.
I was reminded of all this by listening to a
group of schoolchildren in a
commuter bus the other day.
They were
talking about what lands them in detention without right of
appeal. If
politicians tend to behave like headmasters, should we start by
changing the
behaviour of headmasters?
We did wonders in building schools and getting
children to attend them in
the 1980s, but shouldn’t someone have been asking
more questions about the
kind of schools we inherited? If we had thought then
about how colonial our
school system was, we might have less problems
now.
The best of those schools produced competent civil servants, even
good
scientists and doctors, but the system was so designed that only
the
better-funded schools could do this.
Even the better-funded
schools were designed to produce people who would
accept the sort of
discipline they knew in school. No wonder the
might-have-been headmasters who
became government ministers in 1980 thought
they could treat the police as
their prefects and the rest of us as unruly
schoolchildren. After all, that
is how colonial governors behaved, and they
too had been through the same
kind of school.
The schools have to take more blame than that for the
mess we are in now.
Most of our political leaders went to mission schools
and the missionaries
all had their own, rather different, colonial type of
agenda.
They were trying to build up their churches against a lot of
other competing
churches. Naturally they wanted to teach their pupils that
their church was
the best.
They strengthened their argument by telling
these innocent children that
theirs was the One True Church.
Everyone
else was in error, and error had no rights. No wonder that those
pupils grew
into politicians taught that their party was the One True Party
and all the
others were in error. And, of course, error had no rights.
Well, the
churches have developed. Maybe it took the silent pressure they
got from
parents like one couple I knew.
They were members of the Dutch Reformed
Church, but it was not easy to get
places in your favourite school in those
days. So eventually they sent their
eldest son to an Anglican school, the
second to a Methodist school, the
third to a government school and their
daughters to a Catholic school.
All the children duly joined the “right”
churches, but they couldn’t be
convinced that their brothers, sisters and
parents all had devil’s horns and
tails.
With congregations full of
people like these, the churches, or some of them,
had to abandon their
empire-building attitudes.
Those early mission schools produced the
founders of political parties that
had the same imperialist attitude:
everyone else had to be converted to
their views or consigned to Hell or at
least battered into seeing things
their way.
Those parties still have
to catch up with the churches when it comes to
tolerance.
Maybe they
saw what happened in the churches and didn’t want it to happen in
their
parties. That would explain why some of them still batter perceived
opponents
over the head first and ask questions later.
That would explain why they
drive any likely opponents out of “their” areas;
if simple voters could see
that their neighbours who belong to another party
don’t have devil’s horns
and tails, how would the One True Party control
them?
And make no
mistake about it, the whole story is about control. The colonial
school
system we inherited was about controlling the pupils who passed
through
school, while they are there and throughout the rest of their lives.
The
colonial church system, which still rears its ugly head everywhere from
the
quiet cloisters of the Anglican Cathedral to the “Holy Spirit seminars”
in
the Sheraton run by our American brothers and sisters, was all about
control:
producing large devout and obedient crowds of believers. Not much
room for
the freedom of the children of God that we find in the New
Testament and in
the Scriptures of other religions.
The colonial political system, we all
know, was all about control control of
our land, control of our minerals and
other wealth, but most importantly,
control of our minds.
It was very
tempting for our newly independent government to take over the
whole system.
After all, it was the one they grew up in. It will be just as
big a
temptation for a new government, whenever we get one.
If they are
tempted, they need reminding that the unruly shouting of the
mobs manning
roadblocks today do express a resentment at this system
of
control.
They are being used by it, but they are expressing
feelings of resentment at
the whole system that has given them schools, but
not jobs, votes, but no
voice and now land, but no food.
Daily News
Abuja violated: UNDP
2/13/02 7:27:09 AM (GMT
+2)
Farming Editor
THE government has violated the Abuja land
redistribution recommendations,
says a United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) report.
The report says the programme was not transparent because
there was no
agreement between the commercial farmers and the
government.
The government has allowed more farm occupations and the
invasion of
delisted farms despite assurances to the international community
that it
would stick to these guidelines.
But the report commended the
government for allocating $3 billion for land
acquisition and infrastructure
development under the Public Sector
Investment Programme in the 2002 budget.
This amount represents a 50 percent
increase in real terms over the 2001
allocation.
The 55-page report, an interim assessment of the Land Reform
and
Resettlement dated January 2002, was released this week.
It was
produced following a visit by the UNDP mission from 13 November to 5
December
2001. The request to assess the progress of the land reform came
from both
the government and a Commonwealth Committee of Foreign Ministers
in Abuja,
Nigeria in September 2001.
At the same meeting, a framework was drawn up
on how the government should
implement its land reform programme.
The
report was expected to facilitate the funding of the land programme or
renew
hopes of funding once it was discovered the programme was being
implemented
along the pillars of the Abuja agreement.
Several donor agencies had
suspended aid to Zimbabwe following reports the
programme was not
transparent.
The mission said despite assurances that the government
would work to ensure
that there would be no further occupation of commercial
farms and that
occupiers on non-designated farms would be moved to legally
acquired farms,
occupiers remained on farms that were not
designated.
The report said: “The mission found that a number of unlisted
and delisted
farms were still occupied. Evidence provided by provincial
governments
indicate that as of 16 November 2001, 157 farms, covering an
estimated area
of 405 227 ha, were still occupied by 14 286 illegal
settlers.
Twenty-six of these (covering 128 495ha) were farms that had
been delisted,
while three were gazetted and three were State
land.
“It appears from the evidence, however, that only 27 farms have
been newly
occupied since then.”
The mission found that in at least
two cases of post-Abuja occupations, new
settlers had occupied, pegged and
begun ploughing plots on non-designated
farms.
The report said the
contesting and delisting of farms had created confusion
within the provincial
governments and this had introduced uncertainty in the
whole
process.
It said: “The government needs to state its position on these
matters
publicly to increase confidence and predictability in the land
reform
process and to encourage negotiated settlements.”
Daily News - Leader Page
Little to be gained from this strutting and
posturing
2/13/02 7:36:56 AM (GMT +2)
THE government’s
refusal to accredit the head of the European Union (EU)
delegation, Sweden’s
Pierre Schori, as an election observer suggests they
have something to
hide.
One man cannot possibly change the acceptability of an election
outcome, if
it is conducted freely and fairly and meets all reasonable
conditions.
But the government declared a dispute with the EU, and in
terms of dispute
resolution that means none of the parties can take
unilateral action,
because all issues ought rightly to be referred to a
mediator.
So from the outset, Zimbabwe could be in breach of the rules of
mediation.
The government’s uneasiness with the Swede stems from Schori’s
role as head
of the EU observer mission to the 2000 parliamentary election
and his
familiarity with Zanu PF’s and the government’s tricks, hence the
panic.
The EU report on that election was uncomplimentary, for a
government so used
to praise-singing and feel-good indulgences.
It
said responsibility for re-establishing the rule of law and good
governance
was in President Mugabe’s hands.
It would be tragic if the EU, during its
meeting in Brussels today, were to
decide to impose smart sanctions because
of the way the government has
reacted to the Schori mission’s
arrival.
Zimbabwe seems to be doing its damnedest to court the wrath of
the
international community.
It is also trying to play EU members
against each other with Britain,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands
and Sweden being excluded as
observers to next month’s poll. The decision of
six EU members cannot
possibly drown that of the other nine members Zimbabwe
is not averse to
having as election observers.
In fact, the very idea
that there can be certain groups of observers
acceptable to the government is
insulting to the other nine EU member
countries.
Why the government
should appear so scared of one person is
beyond
comprehension.
Schori’s group will be one of many to the
presidential election, and if his
report contradicts the reports of the
others, then he will be duty-bound to
explain the discrepancy.
The
government would be on a higher moral ground if it were to invite all
its
critics to come and observe the election and prove them wrong by
its
conduct.
If the government intends to run the presidential
election according to the
rule book, then what could possibly be the source
of its ire?
The truth lies in the government’s wasteland of broken
promises, starting
with the 6 September 2001 Abuja agreement.
Its
pledge to end land invasions and institute a transparent land
reform
programme, its commitment to end violence and allow free campaigning
by the
opposition have all been violated even before the ink on them had
dried.
People continue to die in pre-election terror, while at least 35
schools
have been closed as a result of violence, blamed mostly on supporters
of the
ruling party and the government.
Clearly the government has no
intention of honouring any of its promises in
its bid to ensure the
re-election of Mugabe.
There is very little real benefit to be gained
from the government’s conduct
towards the EU delegation. There may be an
element of political machismo
recalling the dark days of the Cold War. Other
than that, it all seems so
vacuous.
On the other hand, the EU should
not contend itself with just sending
observers.
It can boost its
contribution by offering transparent ballot boxes, and the
special ballot
paper. Such a gesture would represent a significant saving on
Zimbabwe’s
foreign currency-starved resources.
The government should go ahead and
accredit as many observers as possible,
because they can only help the ailing
tourism industry and boost foreign
exchange earnings.
If, after the
election, the EU can give the government full marks for
conducting a free and
fair poll, that would be a bonus not to be sneezed at.
Daily News
Parties discuss code of conduct for polls
2/13/02
7:32:07 AM (GMT +2)
Political Editor
POLITICAL parties
contesting the 9 and 10 March presidential election on
Monday held talks to
discuss a code of conduct to guide them during the
campaign.
Patrick
Chinamasa, the Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, represented
his
party.
The MDC was represented by Gift Chimanikire and Learnmore
Jongwe, deputy
secretary-general and secretary for information and publicity,
respectively.
The National Alliance for Good Governance was represented
by its president,
Shakespeare Maya.
The meeting, the second on the
issue, was held under the auspices of the
Electoral Supervisory Commission
(ESC).
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, the ESC chairman, said: “There was general
agreement
all around. We should get an agreement by Friday. The goal of the
ESC is to
see free and fair elections that are conducted in a peaceful
atmosphere and
according to the Electoral Act.”
He said there was
unanimous agreement by the political parties on the
important provisions of
the code, especially those that prohibit violence.
The code binds the
parties from committing or inciting acts of violence
against members of or
property of other parties.
Daily News
Sir Garfield Todd loses right to vote
2/13/02 7:19:26
AM (GMT +2)
From Lawrence Chikuwira in Bulawayo
Sir Garfield
Todd, the former Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia and one of
the few white
people recognised by President Mugabe’s government as a
champion of the black
people’s fight against racism during the liberation
struggle, has been denied
the vote in the forthcoming presidential election.
Sir Garfield, 93,
yesterday vowed he would go to the polling station next
month to claim his
vote.
He received a registered letter yesterday morning from the Ministry
of Home
Affairs’ provincial registry in Bulawayo, advising him that he had
ceased to
be a citizen of Zimbabwe.
He is no longer qualified or
entitled to be a registered voter in the
Bulawayo South
constituency.
The letter, dated 5 February, gave Todd seven days in which
to appeal or
face being struck off the voters’ roll.
Strangely, the
letter arrived on the very day 12 February the deadline for
an appeal
expired.
Only last week, Sir Garfield and his late wife, Lady Grace, had
three
schools in Bulawayo and Matabeleland South renamed after them, as part
of
the government’s drive to get rid of colonial names.
They were
among a handful of white heroes honoured for their distinguished
service to
Zimbabwe.
Sir Garfield was prime minister from 1953 to 1958, when he was
defeated in
an election largely confined to whites, because he was seen to be
too
sympathetic to the black people’s cause.
He was detained by the
Smith regime in 1965 and 1972, for his stand against
the Unilateral
Declaration of Independence (UDI) and the settlement
proposals struck between
the Smith regime and Britain in 1971, respectively.
Sir Garfield later
became a member of Joshua Nkomo’s PF Zapu delegation to
the abortive 1976
Geneva Conference, which tried but failed to pave the way
for majority
rule.
Mugabe appointed him among the first senators in 1980 and he was
knighted by
Queen Elizabeth in 1986.
Yesterday Sir Garfield, who
arrived in this country from New Zealand as a
missionary in 1934, further
lamented the loss of his right to travel.
“As a former Senator of Zimbabwe, I
travelled on a diplomatic passport which
expired last April. A request to
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to assist
in its renewal has remained
unanswered,” he said, in a statement to The
Daily News.
“I am
horrified by the destruction of our economy, the starving of our
people, the
undermining of our Constitution, the torture and humiliation of
our nation by
Zanu PF.
“Just as we stood with courage against the racism of the past,
so today we
must stand with courage against the terror of the present. Come
what may, I
will in March be going to the polling station to claim my right
as a very
senior citizen of Zimbabwe, to cast my ballot for good against
evil.”
Sir Garfield’s wife, Lady Grace, died in December last year and
was buried
at Dadaya Mission amid eulogies from top government officials,
including the
Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Aeneas
Chigwedere.
Lady Grace was a renowned educationist, credited with
introducing the Dadaya
Education Scheme that greatly improved the quality of
education for blacks
during the colonial era.
Their daughter, Judith
Todd, was among the activists hounded by the Smith
regime for their role in
the liberation struggle.
Yesterday, she said it was ironic that her
father was the first former Prime
Minister of a Commonwealth country to be
detained and now he was going to be
the first to be stripped of his
citizenship.
Daily News
Proposed school names condemned
2/13/02 7:28:52 AM (GMT
+2)
By Columbus Mavhunga
RECENT proposed changes to names of
government schools have been scoffed at
as a desperate ploy by Zanu PF to
curry favour with the electorate ahead of
the 9-10 March presidential
election.
The government announced the suggested changes last
week.
The Daily News yesterday took to the streets to find out what people
thought
about the proposed name changes.
Lycha Saidi, a newspaper
vendor said the government had more pressing issues
than changing the names
of schools.
“I find it very disturbing that instead of buying more books
for students,
the government is using money to buy paint to write a new
name,” said Saidi.
“There is nothing wrong with the former names. They are
part of our
history.”
Themba Ndebele said forcing the new names on
the people was a form of
oppression. “This is what I would call African
oppression. It shows how a
black man can oppress his brother,” said Themba.
“Changing names is like
trying to change our history. That will achieve
nothing. We need a change of
economic policies so that we can have food on
our tables.
“What is strange is that some ministers send their children
to schools
overseas while here at home they are busy changing the names of
schools.
That is hypocrisy at its worst. If they are serious about doing away
with
colonialism, why do they send their children to London or
Washington?”
Esther Zuze said people were more concerned with the
availability of basic
foodstuffs such as maize-meal, cooking oil and soap,
which are in short
supply.
“It is ridiculous that we have a government
that concerns itself with such
petty issues,” said Zuze.
“Why the
changes now when we attained independence 22 years ago? We want
free
education, sound economic policies and roads to be repaired. We are
starving
and that should be addressed first,” she said.
Tawanda Mudzengerere said:
“We might have to change the names again when
things have settled because
this will confuse people. The changes are
unjustified, anyway.”
Thelma
McKop, a former student of Queen Elizabeth Girls’ High, soon to be
changed to
Sally Mugabe, said the names show that the government is
interested in
trivial issues.
She said: “This is ridiculous, to say the least. The
whole country is being
turned into a battlefield, the new names are just
frightening. Think of
Border Gezi and Chenjerai Hunzvi Schools and what
happened in the run-up to
the 2000 parliamentary election.”
Dear All,
I am trying to assist people in the Bulawayo area with queries
regarding
Notice of Objection.
PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO ALL
THOSE ON YOUR LIST AND SPREAD THE
WORD TO ALL THOSE YOU HEAR HAVE RECEIVED
ONE OF THESE NOTICES. ONCE YOU
HAVE REGISTERED YOUR APPEAL THEY CANNOT
PREVENT YOU FROM VOTING IN THE
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
A number of
people have received these notices in the last few days, some
who have
renounced
their foreign citizenship and passport. Don't panic. You must,
however,
respond and have 7 days from the date on which you collected your
notice
from the Post Office. I advise that you take
your appeal
personally to The Registrar in Bulawayo at Room 12, Passport
Office
(old
Tax Office - entrance on 10th Avenue). Make sure you get a receipt
for your
documents and the $50 fee.
Either e.mail your details to me and I will
pass them onto the Citizenship
Lobby Group or e.mail them direct. You must
keep a copy everything and
e.mail the details to be collated for the
observers and for the class
action. Any further queries please contact
myself on 243467 (home) or 011
230 733 or Margaret on 242979. Please read
the following which explains
the law etc. There is a sample appeal foryour
guidance.
Regards
Fiona Lander Please use the above e-mail address -
it is temporary - we
hope!
----- Original Message -----
From: "MDC
Mailing List" <mdcmail@lb.bcentral.com>
To:
"List Member" <lanonlin@gatorzw.2y.net>
Sent:
12 February 2002 12:07
Subject: Notice of Objection Update
Many
people have been contacting our offices with questions and concerns
about the
continued Notice of Objection process. We are aware of the extent
of these
notices, and are working as an organisation to ensure that all
eligible
citizens and permanent residents will be able to vote. However,
our case is
all the stronger when individuals stand up for their rights and
refuse to be
robbed of their democratic right to vote.
The below message comes from
the independent Citizenship Lobby Group. It
contains useful information on
what to do if you have received a Notice of
Objection, particularly since Feb
4.
___________________________
Citizenship Lobby Group Update
#9
February 10, 2002
Dear All
I apologise for not being able to
reply personally to each of your emails
due to the large number I have
received in this regard. I hope this update
suffices.
New information
is at hand since Friday Feb 08, 2002.
Objection notices dated Feb 04/05,
2002
A new batch of objection notices has been sent out to people dated Feb
04 or
05, 2002. This batch appears to target people who renounced dual
citizenship
back in the 1980's. Having said that, though, all sorts of people
are
receiving these notices. At least two individuals have received 2 notices
-
one from the Jan 25 batch and one from the Feb 04 batch.
Some
recipients of the letter have successfully completed the renunciation
of
foreign citizenship procedures required of them by the Citizenship
Amendment
Act 2001. One man was even issued with a new Zimbabwean passport
in November
2001 having satisfied the Registrar General's office that he had
duly
complied with the provisions of the Act.
Appeals from individuals in
receipt of letters dated Feb 04, 2002 are
currently being accepted by the
Constituency Registrars. I suspect that the
cut-off date for these appeals is
likely to be Monday Feb 11, 2002. Make
every effort to submit your appeal by
then.
It may be a good idea to take your Notice of Objection with you as
proof of
the date on which it was written (to distinguish yourself from the
previous
Jan 25/26 group from whom the constituency registrars are refusing
to accept
appeals.)
This was the experience of one person -
1. I
was asked for the date of my notice of objection and if I had the
appeal form
with me. I was then directed to office 4. "They are using
office four today".
I handed in my documents and paid $50.00. I was given a
receipt. The details
were then recorded in a register as was a contact
telephone number. The whole
process took less than ten minutes.
$50 Deposit Required
Please note
that at least one person has had their appeal returned to them
because it did
not include the required payment. When the payment and appeal
were duly
returned, the deadline for accepting the appeal had allegedly
expired and the
documents were not accepted.
Legal action
Bryant Elliot of Gill,
Godlonton & Gerans continues to be involved in legal
action challenging
the issuing of these Notices of Objection. I will keep
you updated on his
progress. He is being kept informed of the information
received through the
Citizenship Lobby Group.
What to do if you've been refused the
opportunity to appeal
I don't have any wise answers to give in this regard as
yet. I will approach
Bryant Elliot and ask if he has any recommendations. At
the very least it
would seem to be important to write in protest to the
relevant Constituency
Registrar and the Registrar-General detailing the date
of receipt of the
actual document notwithstanding the date on which it was
posted by the
Constituency Registrar and the date on which your appeal was
refused.
Regarding rules of interpretation, I have been sent this extract
from
Section 34(1) of the Interpretation Act, Chapter 1 which reads as
follows:
Where an enactment authorizes or requires a document to be
served by post,
and
where the word "serve" or any of the words "give"'
"deliver" or "send" or
any
other word is used, the service of the document
may be effected by
prepaying,
registering and posting an envelope
addressed to the person on whom the
document
is to be served at his usual
or last known place of abode or business, and
containing such document, and
unless the contrary is proved, the document
shall
be deemed to have been
served at the time at which such envelope would have
been
delivered in the
ordinary course of post.
Section 28(2) of the Interpretation Act, Chapter
1 reads as follows:
Where in an enactment a period of time is expressed
to begin on, or to be
reckoned from, a particular day, that day shall not be
included in the
period.
Possibly a copy of your complain should be
sent to a civil society
organisation like Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(ZESN) or Legal
Resources Foundation (LRF).
Submission to
Observers
I propose to collate the information received regarding these
Notices of
Objection and submit it to the "observers" as proof of the R-G's
intention
to disenfranchise voters with a legitimate right to participate in
the
forthcoming elections.
Below I have repeated a bit of information
(and appeal draft) given out in
update #7 for the benefit of people who have
joined this mailing list since
Jan 30, 2002.
Best wishes and thanks
for all your replies and information
Brenda Burrell
bnb@zol.co.zw
Your
rights
Permanent residence is an implicit part of citizenship. Prior
to
renunciation in the latter part of 2001 you would have been a de
facto
permanent resident.
Regardless of the fact that you may have
chosen to retain your foreign
citizenship over your Zimbabwean citizenship,
you are nonetheless eligible
to vote as evidenced by the following relevant
details extracted from the
High Court judgement handed down by Justice Rita
Makarau on January 25,
2002:
1. In order to comply with section 28(2)
of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,
for the Presidential elections scheduled for
9 and 10 March 2002, the
Registrar General shall ensure that there is in
place a common roll.
2. The common roll referred to in 1 above, shall contain
the names and such
other information as may be necessary, of all persons who
have attained the
age of 18 years, are citizens of Zimbabwe or, since 1985,
have been regarded
by a written law to be permanent residents in Zimbabwe and
who meet the
residential requirements of any particular constituency or have
satisfied
him that for reasons related to place of origin, political
affiliation or
otherwise, it is appropriate that they be registered in a
constituency in
which they do not reside;
3. The Registrar General shall
restore to the voters roll of any
constituency all voters who, on or before
18 January 2002, were on that roll
or were eligible but were refused to be on
that roll, who may have lost or
renounced their citizenship of Zimbabwe, but
who since 1985, have been
regarded by a written law to be permanently
resident in Zimbabwe;
4. The Registrar General shall make adequate and
reasonable administrative
arrangements for all voters registered on the
common roll who will not be in
their constituencies on the polling days, to
exercise their vote
Notes regarding the draft Notice of Appeal
Against Objection to Registration
1. The draft is included at the end of this
document.
2. The grounds specified in this draft may not apply to
everyone.
· If, for instance, a person has been removed from being a citizen
simply
because they have a right to a foreign citizenship, then they should
argue
that they are still a citizen of Zimbabwe and they are entitled to
be
registered on that basis.
· Alternatively, they can also say that if
they have been a permanent
resident in Zimbabwe since 31 December 1985 they
qualify on that ground as
well, to be a voter.
What you should do
if you receive one of these letters
1. Respond immediately.
2. Use the
following draft Notice of Appeal Against Objection to
Registration - it has
been provided by a lawyer with plenty of experience.
3. Preferably hand
deliver your response to the relevant registrar's office
AND request a
receipt for the document OR;
Post your response by registered post
4. Keep
me informed of:
· which city/district you reside in and
· when you
received your Notice of Objection
· how you submitted your response
· what
happens to you next in this regard
Fee
Note that the $50 fee has
to be submitted by money order or cash - not
personal cheques. Apparently a
$50 money order earns commission of $150 and
registering $88, so be prepared
to pay out $288 if you want to return your
documents by registered post in
this manner.
Electoral Act (Chapter 2:01)
Notice of
Appeal Against Objection to Registration
The grounds of my appeal are as
follows:
I have been a permanent resident of this country since . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that is before 31 December 1985.
I am
therefore entitled to register as a voter on the common roll in terms
of
section 3 (1) (b) of Schedule 3 of the Constitution. I would be
grateful
therefore if you will retain my name on the voters' roll.
I
should mention that although your letter is dated . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . I note that the postmark on the
envelope
containing your letter is dated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . In fact I only received your letter on . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . from which date I presume the seven
day
notice period commences.
Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mugabe opponent accused of murder plot
Patrick Barkham in Sydney and
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
Wednesday February 13, 2002
The
Guardian
An Australian television documentary will today allege that
Zimbabwe's
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was involved in a plot to
assassinate
his rival, President Robert Mugabe, before next month's
election.
The SBS Dateline documentary will broadcast surveillance video
footage
purporting to show Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for
Democratic
Change, agreeing to the "elimination" of Mr Mugabe before the
ageing
president goes to the polls in Zimbabwe on March 9 and 10.
Mr
Tsvangirai dismissed the charges yesterday. "It is a crude smear
campaign
against me. They are ridiculous charges and there is no truth to
them," he
said.
The grainy video allegedly records a December meeting
between Mr Tsvangirai,
two unidentified men and a Canadian firm of political
consultants in
Montreal.
Referring to Mr Tsvangirai's presence, one of
the Canadian company's
employees says in extracts released yesterday: "The
MDC, represented by the
top man who's sitting here right now, commits to -
let's call it... the coup
d'etat or the elimination of the
President."
"Do coffins win elections?" asks one of the
Canadians.
"OK, Mr Mugabe is eliminated. Now what?" another participant
in the meeting
later asks. "Are you in a position basically to ensure a
smooth transition
of power?"
The man the documentary identified as Mr
Tsvangirai replies: "Yes. I've no
doubt about it."
He adds later: "We
can now definitely say that Mr Mugabe is going to be
eliminated."
The
documentary will also reveal alleged evidence that a British company
attended
two meetings with Mr Tsvangirai and the Canadian firm.
Interviewed on the
programme, Mr Tsvangirai denied that the MDC was plotting
to assassinate Mr
Mugabe.
"Why should we?" he said. "He is a 78-year-old man. We have no
reason
whatsoever to make any harm to him."
Mr Tsvangirai said he was
surprised that a reputable journalist would fall
for "such obvious
propaganda"
| 
